MTA hopes to stop debris falling underneath city's elevated subways

Falling debris is a problem for both pedestrians and cars alike underneath the city's elevated subways.

News 12 Staff

Oct 31, 2019, 12:02 AM

Updated 1,869 days ago

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Falling debris is a problem for both pedestrians and cars alike underneath the city's elevated subways.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is stepping in to stop the problem in its tracks. In May, a piece of track shattered a car windshield parked on River Avenue. Just last week, a similar incident happened in Queens and both accidents involved malfunctioning containment baskets designed to catch falling debris.
MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford felt the need to take action and implemented a seven-day inspection blitz. This includes hand-checking each and every containment basket in the subway system- more than 325,000- and making sure they are properly aligned and secured.
In a statement Byford says in part, "In addition to post-incident inspections, we are taking aggressive action to proactively prevent debris from dislodging, and to catch it if it does become loose."
Part of that plan already is in effect along River Avenue- just blocks away from where the incident in May occurred. Workers have begun to install protective netting, which has been tested in four other locations across the city.
On Wednesday, the cables going up along the tracks on River Avenue are to be followed by 1.5 miles of netting split between the No. 1 line along Broadway in Kingsbridge.
Workers tell News 12 they too have experienced falling debris. They say after the cables are up the netting will be installed sometime next week.