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Sleep tight: Railyard lights to be on all night to rush completion of delayed Carlton Avenue Bridge

Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing Atlantic Yards, today issued a Supplemental Report to its regular two-week Construction Updates.

The gist: floodlights at the Vanderbilt Yard that are supposed* to be off by 3 am may be on all night during the next two week period, in mid-June, and possibly through the end of June. That means residents nearby to ensure they have very thorough coverage blocking their windows.

Why'd I add the asterisk? Because residents have already reported, via Atlantic Yards Watch, that those operating the lights do not necessarily follow the stated plan.

The reason? Developer Forest City Ratner is rushing to achieve "timely completion" of the Carlton Avenue Bridge, indicated in the announcement by the rather cryptic initials CAB.

What's missing? That the current schedule for the bridge indicates completion in the week after the arena opens, though the reconstruction of the bridge is an "arena opening condition," and the state has asked Forest City Ratner to draw up mitigation plans in case the arena opens September 28 without having the bridge open. The bridge is a major artery between Prospect Heights and Fort Greene.

The announcement
Yard Lights
Currently during the week, Yard Flood Lights are turned on at 6am and from dusk to 3:00 A.M. The work in the yard is becoming increasingly busy and congested during the day (first two shifts). During the next 2-week period the yard lights will need to be turned on in a limited area of the eastern yard (between Carlton Ave. and Vanderbilt Ave., closer to Vanderbilt Ave.) after 3 A.M. on some nights as some light plumbing work (quiet work) needs to be completed when no other work is taking place in the yard. This is intermittent work and weather-dependent (subject to cancellation if there is rain). Either only some of the yard lights in the immediate vicinity of the work in the eastern yard will be turned on or portable light(s) will be used during this work. Again, this is not noisy work.
As work in the north rail yard is completed in preparation for cutover (i.e., the LIRR moves from the southern to the northern portion of the yard), currently scheduled over a weekend in mid-June, and work in the yard turns into a 24-hour a day operation right before and during this cutover period, the yard lights will have to be turned on at dusk and turned off at approximately 7:00 AM. The complete cutover from the south yard to the north yard will occur over two weekends from mid to late June. As such, there is a possibility that yard lights may intermittently need to be turned on all night through the end of June. Achieving our schedule for yard cutover is essential to timely completion of the CAB.
The document

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