Donohue: Dust from East River tunnel worries transit workers, riders

Funeral parlors. Guys with neck tattoos. People wearing hospital masks in public.

And, of course, clowns.

These are some of the things that can make me uncomfortable.

So I wasn’t too happy to see a transit worker standing on the platform of the Court St. subway station last week with a breathing mask covering his nose and mouth.

He was a motorman and he was scheduled to relieve the operator of an R train that was about to arrive at the station, which now is a temporary end-of-the line terminal on the Brooklyn side of the Montague St. subway tunnel.

“I don’t know what the hell is in the air down here, and I ain’t taking any chances,” he said.

Three other transit workers, who were about to walk towards the sound of jackhammers coming from inside the tunnel, were at the far end of the platform.

They were putting on even more serious gear — respirators — and looked like miners going into the hole.

The East River tunnel has been closed since August for a massive overhaul and workers have been jackhammering concrete into bits around the clock.

The demolition creates concrete dust, which contains silica.

The material can be hazardous after repeated and long-term exposure.

The airborne particles are supposed to be kept away from the platform and contained to the work zone, which is located a few hundred feet into the tunnel.

Danny Iudici

The Montague St. subway tunnel has been closed since August for a massive overhaul and workers have been jackhammering concrete into bits around the clock. The concrete dust often floats to this subway platform.

That hasn’t always been the case.

“The other day it was really bad,” Willie Gonzalez, 57, who was waiting for an R train Thursday, said. “It was like someone threw confetti. I got out of here quick and grabbed a cab home.”

Isabell Raya, a 52-year-old nurse's assistant, also was waiting on the platform.

She had her scarf wrapped around her face like she was heading across the Sahara Desert. Only her eyes were visible.

“I can’t breathe that s--t,” she said. “I have asthma.”

Hurricane Sandy filled up the Montague St. tunnel like a bathtub.

The brackish water destroyed just about everything needed to run trains through the tunnel to Manhattan, including signal and power cables.

Since August, a private contractor has been demolishing a concrete duct encasing the cables all along the tunnel wall.

Transit officials don’t believe the health of their riders have been placed in jeopardy.

They’ve done air-quality tests at Court St., most recently Wednesday, they said.

And before that? In September.

Not very comforting.