8 OCTOBER 5, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Countdown
clocks arrive
on M & W
lines in Qns.
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@QNS.COM / @QNS
On Sept. 29, subway stations
along the M and W
lines received countdown
clocks to bring real-time train
arrival information to customers.
With the addition of the M line,
which makes stops in Middle
Village, Ridgewood and western
Queens, and the W line, which
makes stops in Astoria, a total of
326 stations of the system’s 472
stations will be equipped with
countdown clocks. Countdown
clocks will be installed at all
lettered line stations by the end
of this year.
The countdown clocks are a
part of MTA’s Subway Action
Plan to stabilize and improve the
system and lay the foundation
for modernizing the New York
City Subway. The plan includes
improving customer communications
and providing train
arrival information systemwide
so customers can be kept fully informed
of regular service, delays
or emergency situations, should
they arise.
“We continue to make great
progress to bring real-time
train arrival information to all
stations,” MTA Chairman Joseph
Lhota said. “It is a vital part of
our aggressive and immediate
eff orts to improve the customer
experience through increased
reliability and capacity, enhanced
stations and safety, and clear and
accurate communication.”
Countdown clocks have already
been implemented on the C,
E, G and R lines. Four low-energy
Bluetooth beacons are placed on
each train set and two receivers
on each platform, and LCD display
screens are present at each station
to provide customers with real
time train arrival information.
The 326 stations with countdown
clocks includes 156 stations
on the numbered lines and the 24
line stations, which are connected
to the line’s Communications
Based Train Control (CBTC)
signal system. The 7 line will
get countdown clocks aft er the
installation of CBTC is completed
later this year.
Old Kosciuszko Br. goes out with a bang
The remains of the Old Kosciuszko Bridge were imploded in an “energetic felling” on Oct. 1.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
What’s left of the 78-year-old
traffi c nightmare that was
the old Kosciuszko Bridge
went out with a split-second bang on
Sunday morning.
At 8 a.m. on Oct. 1, crews pushed
the button that ignited an “energetic
felling” of the structure, as Governor
Andrew Cuomo called it, sending
down the bridge’s approaches on the
Queens and Brooklyn sides of the
Newtown Creek. The main steel span
was dismantled, lowered onto a barge
and shipped away back in July.
The blast was audible to residents
living within a few miles of the
span. Hundreds of spectators gathered
on the Brooklyn side cheered
as the 20 remaining trusses fell.
The pilings landed onto berms of
soil to reduce dust exposure. The
governor estimates that 22 million
pounds of the old bridge’s steel will
be recovered and recycled.
The old bridge’s demolition clears
the way for the state Transportation
Department to build a second
cable-stayed bridge nearly identical
to the one that opened in April.
Imploding the old bridge, Cuomo
previously said, would reduce the
project to build the second bridge
Photo by Josef Pinlac
by seven to nine months. The new
span is expected to be completed
in 2019.
Rumors about when the old
bridge would come down had circulated
for months. A previously
announced September date turned
out to be inaccurate. QNS first reported
about Sunday’s demolition
date on Sept. 27.
The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
and the new Kosciuszko
Bridge were closed for a number
of minutes before and after the implosion.
A number of local streets
in Maspeth and Greenpoint had
been closed since Saturday night as
crews prepared for the operation.
Disgusting underpasses in Middle Village get cleaned up
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
The fi lthy conditions along the
underpasses of the Long Island
Expressway (LIE) at 74th and
80th streets in Middle Village recently
got a much-needed cleaning.
Aft er receiving calls and emails
from community members complaining
about the unsanitary and
disgusting conditions of the overpasses,
Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley reached out to the Department
of Transportation (DOT) to
see what could be done to clean up
the sites.
According to one email, the overpasses
were littered with garbage,
pigeon droppings, feathers, food and
even dead pigeons, as well as graffi ti
on the walls.
Crowley heard the complaints and
reached out to the DOT, who in turn
connected with the Department of
Photos courtesy of Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley’s offi ce and DSNY.
DSNY and DOT worked to clean the 74th and 80th Street underpasses
in Middle Village.
Sanitation’s (DSNY) Clean Streets
to get the cleanup started. Now the
debris and bird droppings have been
removed from both locations.
