diff --git a/.changeset/wet-falcons-talk.md b/.changeset/wet-falcons-talk.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7698788db0e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wet-falcons-talk.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@eth-optimism/data-transport-layer': patch
+---
+
+improve slow blocking JSON parsing that occurs during l2 sync
diff --git a/packages/data-transport-layer/package.json b/packages/data-transport-layer/package.json
index c959e434e2c1..da0ca5267abf 100644
--- a/packages/data-transport-layer/package.json
+++ b/packages/data-transport-layer/package.json
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     "@sentry/tracing": "^6.3.1",
     "@types/express": "^4.17.11",
     "bcfg": "^0.1.6",
+    "bfj": "^7.0.2",
     "browser-or-node": "^1.3.0",
     "cors": "^2.8.5",
     "dotenv": "^8.2.0",
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@
     "@types/levelup": "^4.3.0",
     "@types/mocha": "^8.2.2",
     "@types/node-fetch": "^2.5.8",
+    "@types/workerpool": "^6.0.0",
     "chai": "^4.3.4",
     "chai-as-promised": "^7.1.1",
     "hardhat": "^2.2.1",
diff --git a/packages/data-transport-layer/src/services/l2-ingestion/service.ts b/packages/data-transport-layer/src/services/l2-ingestion/service.ts
index 120bb35ad734..6a32bc301a58 100644
--- a/packages/data-transport-layer/src/services/l2-ingestion/service.ts
+++ b/packages/data-transport-layer/src/services/l2-ingestion/service.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import { BaseService } from '@eth-optimism/common-ts'
 import { JsonRpcProvider } from '@ethersproject/providers'
 import { BigNumber } from 'ethers'
 import { LevelUp } from 'levelup'
+import axios from 'axios';
+import bfj from 'bfj';
 
 /* Imports: Internal */
 import { TransportDB } from '../../db/transport-db'
@@ -168,11 +170,27 @@ export class L2IngestionService extends BaseService<L2IngestionServiceOptions> {
         )
       })
     } else {
-      blocks = await this.state.l2RpcProvider.send('eth_getBlockRange', [
-        toRpcHexString(startBlockNumber),
-        toRpcHexString(endBlockNumber),
-        true,
-      ])
+      // This request returns a large response.  Parsing it into JSON inside the ethers library is
+      // quite slow, and can block the event loop for upwards of multiple seconds.  When this happens,
+      // incoming http requests will likely timeout and fail.
+      // Instead, we will parse the incoming http stream directly with the bfj package, which yields
+      // the event loop periodically so that we don't fail to serve requests.
+      const req = {
+        jsonrpc: '2.0',
+        method: 'eth_getBlockRange',
+        params: [
+          toRpcHexString(startBlockNumber),
+          toRpcHexString(endBlockNumber),
+          true,
+        ],
+        id: '1',
+      };
+
+      const resp = await axios.post(this.state.l2RpcProvider.connection.url, req, {responseType: 'stream'});
+      const respJson = await bfj.parse(resp.data, { 
+        yieldRate: 4096 // this yields abit more often than the default of 16384
+      });
+      const blocks = respJson.data;
     }
 
     for (const block of blocks) {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 678b6dfabc8f..1be52e5f1a8e 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2601,6 +2601,13 @@
     "@types/bn.js" "*"
     "@types/underscore" "*"
 
+"@types/workerpool@^6.0.0":
+  version "6.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/workerpool/-/workerpool-6.0.0.tgz#068c31191f7df9b3d49ebe348b1eeb601e75e2d3"
+  integrity sha512-BjbKVHFBWblQ3vZ5yFq29kbM2TsaUaTOwYgVxqnNjMrT6CktVF8AvMxOJZgHGgNbAzP4z8DK+EshyZcYpdvAhQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/node" "*"
+
 "@types/yargs-parser@*":
   version "20.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/yargs-parser/-/yargs-parser-20.2.0.tgz#dd3e6699ba3237f0348cd085e4698780204842f9"
@@ -3657,6 +3664,16 @@ better-path-resolve@1.0.0:
   dependencies:
     is-windows "^1.0.0"
 
+bfj@^7.0.2:
+  version "7.0.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/bfj/-/bfj-7.0.2.tgz#1988ce76f3add9ac2913fd8ba47aad9e651bfbb2"
+  integrity sha512-+e/UqUzwmzJamNF50tBV6tZPTORow7gQ96iFow+8b562OdMpEK0BcJEq2OSPEDmAbSMBQ7PKZ87ubFkgxpYWgw==
+  dependencies:
+    bluebird "^3.5.5"
+    check-types "^11.1.1"
+    hoopy "^0.1.4"
+    tryer "^1.0.1"
+
 bignumber.js@^9.0.0, bignumber.js@^9.0.1:
   version "9.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/bignumber.js/-/bignumber.js-9.0.1.tgz#8d7ba124c882bfd8e43260c67475518d0689e4e5"
@@ -3711,7 +3728,7 @@ blakejs@^1.1.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/blakejs/-/blakejs-1.1.0.tgz#69df92ef953aa88ca51a32df6ab1c54a155fc7a5"
   integrity sha1-ad+S75U6qIylGjLfarHFShVfx6U=
 
-bluebird@^3.5.0, bluebird@^3.5.2, bluebird@^3.5.3, bluebird@^3.7.2:
+bluebird@^3.5.0, bluebird@^3.5.2, bluebird@^3.5.3, bluebird@^3.5.5, bluebird@^3.7.2:
   version "3.7.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/bluebird/-/bluebird-3.7.2.tgz#9f229c15be272454ffa973ace0dbee79a1b0c36f"
   integrity sha512-XpNj6GDQzdfW+r2Wnn7xiSAd7TM3jzkxGXBGTtWKuSXv1xUV+azxAm8jdWZN06QTQk+2N2XB9jRDkvbmQmcRtg==
@@ -4190,6 +4207,11 @@ check-error@^1.0.2:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/check-error/-/check-error-1.0.2.tgz#574d312edd88bb5dd8912e9286dd6c0aed4aac82"
   integrity sha1-V00xLt2Iu13YkS6Sht1sCu1KrII=
 
+check-types@^11.1.1:
+  version "11.1.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/check-types/-/check-types-11.1.2.tgz#86a7c12bf5539f6324eb0e70ca8896c0e38f3e2f"
+  integrity sha512-tzWzvgePgLORb9/3a0YenggReLKAIb2owL03H2Xdoe5pKcUyWRSEQ8xfCar8t2SIAuEDwtmx2da1YB52YuHQMQ==
+
 checkpoint-store@^1.1.0:
   version "1.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/checkpoint-store/-/checkpoint-store-1.1.0.tgz#04e4cb516b91433893581e6d4601a78e9552ea06"
@@ -7304,6 +7326,11 @@ home-or-tmp@^2.0.0:
     os-homedir "^1.0.0"
     os-tmpdir "^1.0.1"
 
+hoopy@^0.1.4:
+  version "0.1.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/hoopy/-/hoopy-0.1.4.tgz#609207d661100033a9a9402ad3dea677381c1b1d"
+  integrity sha512-HRcs+2mr52W0K+x8RzcLzuPPmVIKMSv97RGHy0Ea9y/mpcaK+xTrjICA04KAHi4GRzxliNqNJEFYWHghy3rSfQ==
+
 hosted-git-info@^2.1.4, hosted-git-info@^2.6.0:
   version "2.8.8"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/hosted-git-info/-/hosted-git-info-2.8.8.tgz#7539bd4bc1e0e0a895815a2e0262420b12858488"
@@ -12743,6 +12770,11 @@ trim-right@^1.0.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/true-case-path/-/true-case-path-2.2.1.tgz#c5bf04a5bbec3fd118be4084461b3a27c4d796bf"
   integrity sha512-0z3j8R7MCjy10kc/g+qg7Ln3alJTodw9aDuVWZa3uiWqfuBMKeAeP2ocWcxoyM3D73yz3Jt/Pu4qPr4wHSdB/Q==
 
+tryer@^1.0.1:
+  version "1.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tryer/-/tryer-1.0.1.tgz#f2c85406800b9b0f74c9f7465b81eaad241252f8"
+  integrity sha512-c3zayb8/kWWpycWYg87P71E1S1ZL6b6IJxfb5fvsUgsf0S2MVGaDhDXXjDMpdCpfWXqptc+4mXwmiy1ypXqRAA==
+
 ts-essentials@^1.0.0, ts-essentials@^1.0.2:
   version "1.0.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/ts-essentials/-/ts-essentials-1.0.4.tgz#ce3b5dade5f5d97cf69889c11bf7d2da8555b15a"