The after-effects of Hurricane Sandy are still plaguing transit riders — and will continue through next year, the MTA’s chairman cautioned Tuesday.
Both the Montague tube, which carries the R train into Manhattan from Downtown Brooklyn, and the Greenpoint tube, through which the G train runs between Brooklyn and Queens, were badly flooded and are undergoing extensive repairs.
But Chairman Thomas Prendergast said other subway tunnels in lower Manhattan may have to be closed on nights and weekends after the work on the two tunnels is completed.
“Nine of the tubes were damaged pretty substantially,” he said at a breakfast of the nonpartisan Citizen Budget Commission. “We’re going after the two that were damaged the most. We know there’s problems in the other tubes, but we really can’t deal with those until we deal with these.”
Prendergast noted that two Brooklyn Heights passages into Manhattan — the Cranberry Street Tunnel, which serves the A and C lines, and the 2 and 3 lines’ Clark Street Tunnel, suffered damage from the flooding, though not the “order of magnitude” of the Montague tube.
A spokesman said damage in the lower Manhattan tubes is still being assessed, and it has not been determined yet which lines will have more extensive repairs.
The Joralemon Street and Rutgers tubes — which serve the 4, 5 and F trains — may also need repair work.
The Canarsie tube, which serves the L train, was also badly flooded.
The most damaged of the tunnels — the Montague tube — has been closed for about six weeks, and may be closed for the next 12 months while workers repair the devastating effects of salt water on the tube.
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg warned, “It would be irresponsible to rule out a long-term closure until we finish an assessment for the future.”
He added, “We’ve suffered extensive damage. You can ride your train to work every day, and you think it’s fine, but it’s not.”