Utica Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line)

Utica Avenue
NYCS A NYCS C
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°WCoordinates: 40°40′45″N 73°55′45″W / 40.679239°N 73.929062°W
Division B (IND)
Line IND Fulton Street Line
Services       A  (all times)
      C  (all except late nights)
Connection
  • New York City Bus: B25, B46
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened April 9, 1936
Accessible
Traffic
Passengers (2014) 4,878,678[1] Increase 3.2%
Rank 99 out of 421
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.

This underground station has four tracks and two island platforms and 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. The Reid Avenue El station, which was originally named Utica Avenue and was formerly above the current subway station, closed on May 31, 1940.[2]


North side street stair

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 ends. 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.

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 switches to the express tracks.

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

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.[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 No regular service (4 tracks, 2 platforms)
B3
Platform level		 Northbound local ← NYCS C toward 168th Street (NYCS A toward 207th Street late nights) (Kingston–Throop Avenues)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Northbound express ← NYCS A toward Inwood – 207th Street (Nostrand Avenue)
Southbound express → NYCS A 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 → NYCS C toward Euclid Avenue (NYCS A toward Far Rockaway late nights) (Ralph Avenue) →

The station has four tracks and two island platforms, typical for a four-track express station. 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.

Provisional station

The center of the station slopes down and there is a lowered ceiling compared to the rest of the station.[5] Above is a disused portion of a mezzanine and a station shell with the tentative name of Fulton Street. The tracks are outlined by a pattern in the ceiling on top of the four trackways at Utica Avenue, therefore it appears that there are four trackways and two island platforms running diagonally across the ceiling in the center.[6] Fulton Street was to be built for the Utica Avenue Line as part of the IND Second System.[7]

There were blocked stairways up from platform level to the upper level, but possible evidence is present at the ceiling level of Utica Avenue, as mentioned before. Climbing the steps to the intermediate level, there are some locked doors which could serve as access to the unfinished platforms. There are also some windows in this level. Looking into the window reveals a cinder-block wall, and to the side are portions of the unused mezzanine accompanying the Fulton Street station shell. Climbing the ramp to the entrance level reveals more windows and a door, which provides access to a disused upper level mezzanine, which would then have steps down to the unused mezzanine leading directly to the Fulton Street station shell.

Before the renovation of this station in 1995, it was possible to see the station shell from the mezzanine. Past the main booth, there was a long ramp that goes down to a landing from which stairways lead to the 2 active platforms that currently exists. However, in the intermediate level, there was a fence. Past the fence, there was a tiled wall with a door. The door had a few of slots missing. A look into the door revealed the Fulton Street station shell. After the renovation of this station, the mezzanine was shortened using cinder-block walls and the current tiling in the intermediate level.

Entrances and exits

A station elevator was opened in May 2014, making the station wheelchair-accessible.[3]

There are five entrances, all on Fulton Street:

References

  1. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  2. ↑ New York Times, Last Train is Run on Fulton St. 'El', June 1, 1940
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Utica Av AC Station Becomes the 82nd Fully ADA Accessible Subway Station". MTA. May 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.thejoekorner.com/indsecondsystem/uticaave.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/Utica.ceil2.jpg
  6. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uAiSUML2YE&feature=player_embedded
  7. ↑ http://ltvsquad.com/Locations/urbanexploration.php?ID=187

External links

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