by Matthew Marani

Though it’s been nearly four years since Hurricane Sandy, much of New York’s infrastructure that was damaged during the storm is still in need of repair. Of those issues, the flooding of the Canarsie Tunnel, which carries the L train, by 7 million gallons of salt water is among the most severe. Due to the train’s urgent repairs, the MTA has ruled out the possibility of doing work over nights and weekends, a process that would add years to the renovation.

In order to investigate alternative solutions for the L train’s weekday ridership of 400,000 commuters, the Van Alen Institute devoted a portion of its Spring Festival to a competition examining the complex process of public transportation improvement. Titled the L Train Shutdown Charrette, the contest attracted nearly 100 people from multiple design teams to present and discuss transportation alternatives from the impending L train closure.