Nevins Street (IRT Eastern Parkway Line)

Nevins Street
NYCS 2 NYCS 3 NYCS 4 NYCS 5
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address Nevins Street & Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Borough Brooklyn
Locale Downtown Brooklyn
Coordinates 40°41′19″N 73°58′51″W / 40.688709°N 73.980904°WCoordinates: 40°41′19″N 73°58′51″W / 40.688709°N 73.980904°W
Division A (IRT)
Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line
Services       2  (all times)
      3  (all except late nights)
      4  (all times)
      5  (weekdays until 8:45 p.m.)
Connection
  • NYCT Bus: B25, B26, B38, B41, B47, B52, B67
  • MTA Bus: B103
Structure Underground
Levels 2 (lower level abandoned)
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened May 1, 1908
Traffic
Passengers (2014) 3,580,156[1] Increase 2.9%
Rank 142 out of 421
Station succession
Next north Hoyt Street (local): 2  3 
Borough Hall (express): 4  5 
Next south Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center: 2  3  4  5 

Nevins Street is an express station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Nevins Street, Flatbush Avenue, and Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn, it is served by the 2 and 4 trains at all times, the 3 train at all times except late nights, and the 5 train on weekdays.

History

The IRT Brooklyn/Eastern Parkway Line was contracted in 1904 as a two track line under Fulton Street expanding to three tracks under Flatbush Avenue, to end at the Long Island Rail Road terminal under Atlantic Avenue. The Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners halted work in April 1905 for redesign. By that date, the tunnels had been dug out and steelwork had been installed. Work resumed in October 1905 with two additional tracks added, making four under Fulton Street and five under Flatbush Avenue.[2] The additional trackways were added outside the trackways already set in place. Under the 1905 redesign, numerous provisions were made for connections to future routes. In the area around the Nevins Street station, was partially constructed as a local station on a three track subway, a new lower level was added underpinning the structure that had been built. The lower level had one trackway and platform in the station, with two connections on each side, all built at great cost under existing work, but none of it was ever used.

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/Entrance
B1 Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
B2 Northbound local ← NYCS 2 toward Wakefield – 241st Street (Hoyt Street)
← NYCS 3 toward Harlem – 148th Street (Hoyt Street)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Northbound express ← NYCS 4 toward Woodlawn (Borough Hall)
← NYCS 5 toward Dyre Avenue weekdays till 8:45pm or Nereid Avenue PM rush hour (Borough Hall)
Curtain wall
Southbound express → NYCS 4 toward Utica Avenue (New Lots Avenue rush hours and late nights) (Atlantic
Avenue – Barclays Center) →
→ NYCS 5 toward Flatbush Avenue weekdays till 8:45pm (Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center) →
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Southbound local → NYCS 2 toward Flatbush Avenue (Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center) →
→ NYCS 3 toward New Lots Avenue (Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center) →
B3 Side platform, not in service, used as crossunder between platforms
Trackbed No service

The station has two island platforms, situated between the express and local tracks in each direction. A fifth track once existed between the two express tracks. The fifth track was removed in 1956. Original plans called for this to be a local station on a three-track line, but before it opened the two outer local tracks were added. Fare control is in an upper mezzanine, with a crossunder via part of an unused lower level platform. Next to this platform is a single unused trackway under the southbound local track.

The underpass between the main platforms is the only portion of the lower level that has ever been used. Because the station was designed as a local station with side platforms, it is too close to street level for a mezzanine over the tracks. The stairs up lead to two separate fare control mezzanines located over the platforms only, with stairs up to the street. The only way between platforms inside the station is the underpass.

In the station is a "Nevins St." mosaic. The mezzanine walls feature a mosaic frieze by Anton von Dalen, installed in 1997 and entitled Work & Nature. The mosaic is 14 inches by 83 feet along both walls of the mezzanine. The work is in the tones of soft blue, green, and ochre, like the original platform mosaics. It features stenciled silhouettes in black of a woman operating a sewing machine, a mother taking care of a child, a man planting a tree, an architect reading a blueprint, a female executive addressing a meeting, and famous musician Furry Lewis. All of these characters symbolize, according to the artist, "pride, dignity, and beauty surrounding all work".

Provisions for other lines

This unused trackway was part of several plans for connecting the line to other proposed lines. At its north end, this trackway splits from the southbound local track just south of Hoyt Street, and starts heading downgrade.[3] The track was never laid. At the curve in the subway from Fulton Street to Flatbush Avenue, the trackway curves under the southbound local track, and is joined by another unused trackway heading north along Flatbush Avenue for a proposed Manhattan Bridge connection (which was later built for the BMT, though this connection may have still been planned when that line was built, as the DeKalb Avenue station was designed to allow for it).[4] After the lower Nevins Street platform, a trackway splits to the east for a subway under Lafayette Avenue; this was later built as part of the IND Fulton Street and Crosstown Lines. Just beyond this split, at Lafayette Avenue, the trackway is cut by the IND when the IND was built from 1929 to 1937. On the other side, it rises again to merge with the southbound local track in the midst of the complicated switch layout just north of Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center. Between this merge and Atlantic Avenue is another unused trackway, splitting from the local track towards a subway under Fourth Avenue (later built as the BMT Fourth Avenue Line). This trackway and another trackway (both built for the same proposed subway) end at the same level, under Fourth Avenue, just west of the Pacific Street on the current BMT Fourth Avenue Line and a few feet higher.

On the northbound side, the connection provided by the lower level trackway would have been along the northbound local track (which was not in the original plans). The trackway on this side begins by curving from Fourth Avenue under the line. The place it used to rise is covered, as the trackway beyond that point is now used for the northbound local track. The ramp was covered in July 1963, and was made into a level trackway. This ramp was supposed to be northbound trackway of the proposed IRT Fourth Avenue Subway (before the BRT/BMT was built). The northbound local and express tracks were rearranged by November 1963.

Before Nevins Street, there is a bellmouth that merges into northbound local track for the proposed Lafayette Avenue subway. After Nevins Street, at the curve, there is a short section of wall with no columns, that could be opened up. This was also a proposed connection to the Manhattan Bridge.

Just north of Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center is another unused trackway, merging into the northbound local track from the LIRR's Atlantic Terminal. A trackway from the southbound tracks existed until 1911, when the platforms at Atlantic Avenue were lengthened.

Until a recent renovation of Nevins Street, the rest of the lower platform was visible from the crossunder, but the temporary wall has been replaced with a tile wall. Access to the unused platform is via a cellar-type door at the north end of each platform, as well as doors from the crossunder.

For a time in the early 1960s, a false wall was installed to seal the ramp to the Nevins Street lower level. The false wall was taken down in a later date though for unknown reasons.

The Nevins Street lower level platform had, over the years, become a storage area for various work projects.

References

  1. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2015-04-25. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ↑ Brooklyn Lines IRT
  3. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/Nevins.approach.jpg
  4. ↑ http://ltvsquad.com/Locations/urbanexploration.php?ID=259

Further reading

External links

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