Utica Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line)

Utica Avenue
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address Utica Avenue & Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11233
Borough Brooklyn
Locale Bedford-Stuyvesant
Coordinates 40°40′45″N 73°55′45″W / 40.679239°N 73.929062°W / 40.679239; -73.929062Coordinates: 40°40′45″N 73°55′45″W / 40.679239°N 73.929062°W / 40.679239; -73.929062
Division B (IND)
Line IND Fulton Street Line
Services       A  (all times)
      C  (all except late nights)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: B25, B46, B46 SBS
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened April 9, 1936 (April 9, 1936)[1]
Accessible
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 5,060,099[2] Increase 3.7%
Rank 95 out of 422
Station succession
Next north Kingston–Throop Avenues (local): A  C 
Nostrand Avenue (express): A 
Next south Ralph Avenue (local): A  C 
Broadway Junction (express): A 
Next north Franklin Avenue (local): A  C 
Jay Street – MetroTech (express): A 
Next south Euclid Avenue: A  C 

Utica Avenue is an express station on the IND Fulton Street Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Utica Avenue and Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, it is served by the A train at all times and the C train at all times except late nights.

History

Track layout
Legend
to Nostrand Av
to Kingston–Throop Avs
to Ralph Av
to Bway Jct

This underground station opened on April 9, 1936, as part of an extension of the Independent Subway System (IND) from its previous Brooklyn terminus at Jay Street – Borough Hall, which opened three years earlier, to Rockaway Avenue. The new IND subway replaced the BMT Fulton Street El.[1] The Reid Avenue El station, which was originally named Utica Avenue and was formerly above the current subway station, closed on May 31, 1940.[3]

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/Entrance
B1 Upper Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
(Elevator at NW corner of Fulton Street and Malcolm X Boulevard)
Stairs to unused Utica Avenue Line platforms (closed)
B2 Lower Mezzanines West Mezzanine[4]
East Mezzanine[4]
Unused Utica Avenue Line platforms Provisions for 4 tracks and 2 platforms
B3
Platform level		 Northbound local ← toward 168th Street ( toward 207th Street late nights) (Kingston–Throop Avenues)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Northbound express ← toward Inwood – 207th Street (Nostrand Avenue)
Southbound express → toward Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue, Lefferts Boulevard, or
Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street (Broadway Junction) →
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Southbound local → toward Euclid Avenue ( toward Far Rockaway late nights) (Ralph Avenue) →
North side street stair

The station has four tracks and two island platforms, typical for a four-track express station.[5] The outer track walls are made of tile and have a Pomegranate red band with a Tuscan red border. Small black signs with "UTICA" in white lettering run below the bands at regular intervals. The station's i-beam columns are painted maroon. The station has been renovated with new old-fashioned light fixtures with modern sodium-vapor lamps in them. They are suspended on long rods from the high, vaulted ceilings.

This station has two fare control areas, one at either end. The full-time side at the eastern (railroad south end) has two staircases from each platform going up to a crossover (the western ones go up to a ramp that leads to the main fare control area), where a turnstile bank and two exit-only turnstiles provide access to and from the station. Outside fare control, there is a token booth and two street stairs, each going to either western corners of Utica Avenue and Fulton Street. The station's other fare control area has two staircases going down to each platform, a crossover, part-time turnstile bank and customer assistance booth, high entry/exit turnstiles that provide full-time access to and from the station, and two staircases going up to either side of Fulton Street between Stuyvesant and Schenectady Avenues.

Unusually, there are two mezzanine levels; the upper mezzanine level was closed off after a 1995 renovation, and the lower mezzanine level is actually the platform level of the unbuilt Utica Avenue line.

Between this station and Ralph Avenue, there is a fifth track between the express tracks, which could be used for storage or turning trains, although it is not normally used. The storage/layup tracks ends with bumper blocks on both ends, with a switch to the northbound express track on its west end and a switch to the southbound express track on the east end.[6][5]

Artwork here was made in 1996 by Jimmy James Green and is called Children's Cathedral.

Unfinished station

The center of the station slopes down and there is a lowered ceiling compared to the rest of the station.[7] Above is a disused portion of a mezzanine and an unfinished upper level station. The tracks are outlined by a pattern in the ceiling on top of the four trackways at the Utica Avenue station; therefore it appears that there are four trackways and two island platforms running diagonally across the ceiling in the center.[8] The unfinished upper level station was to be built for the Utica Avenue Line as part of the IND Second System.[9]

There were blocked stairways up from the platform level to the upper level that were removed during the station's renovation. Climbing the steps to the intermediate level, there are locked doors that serve as access to the unfinished platforms. There are also some windows in this level. Looking into the window reveals a cinder-block wall that were erected to prevent looking into the mezzanine. Climbing the ramp to the entrance level reveals more windows and doors These doors provide access to the disused portion of the upper level mezzanine, which has steps leading to the unused portion of the intermediate level mezzanine (which in turn leads directly to the Fulton Street station shell).

Before the renovation of this station in 1995, it was possible to see the unfinished station from the mezzanine. In the intermediate level of the mezzanine, the closed section of the mezzanine was blocked only by a chain-link fence. Past the fence, there was a tiled wall with a door. The door had some panels missing, and whenever open, a look into the door revealed the unfinished upper level station. After the 1990s renovation of the Utica Avenue station, the mezzanine was shortened using cinder-block walls and the current tiling in the intermediate level, hiding the chain-link fence and the door behind it.

Entrances and exits

Elevator

This station is compliant with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. In May 2014, MTA installed three elevators: one near the intersection of Utica Avenue and Fulton Street, connecting the mezzanine to the street, and two elevators connecting the platforms to the mezzanine.[10]

There are four entrances, all on Fulton Street:

References

  1. 1 2 "NEW SUBWAY LINK OPENED BY MAYOR; He Tells 15,000 in Brooklyn It Will Be Extended to Queens When Red Tape Is Cut.". The New York Times. 1936-04-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
  2. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  3. ↑ New York Times, Last Train is Run on Fulton St. 'El', June 1, 1940
  4. 1 2 http://www.thejoekorner.com/indsecondsystem/uticaave.htm
  5. 1 2 Marrero, Robert (2015-09-13). "469 Stations, 846 Miles" (PDF). B24 Blog, via Dropbox. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  6. ↑ Marrero, Robert (2015-09-13). "469 Stations, 846 Miles" (PDF). B24 Blog, via Dropbox. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  7. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/Utica.ceil2.jpg
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uAiSUML2YE&feature=player_embedded
  9. ↑ http://ltvsquad.com/Locations/urbanexploration.php?ID=187
  10. ↑ "Utica Av AC Station Becomes the 82nd Fully ADA Accessible Subway Station". MTA. May 23, 2014.

External links

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