By Peggy Darlington (about) (contact)
Edited by David Pirmann (about) (contact)
 | | Photo of R27/R30 cars at Myrtle Avenue. Collection of David
Pirmann. |
The Broadway Elevated line is a study in contrasts. The
line starts as the Nassau Street subway with a mixture of renovated,
partially renovated, and unrenovated stations. The line then emerges
to cross the Williamsburg Bridge and becomes the Brooklyn Broadway
El. Here too the line shows the neglect of the years. The line
features the oldest structure still in use in the subway with the S
curve in the section from Alabama to Cypress Hills. Past the S curve
the line has modern canopies and renovated mezzanines. After 121
Street, the line leaves Jamaica Avenue and reenters the subway via the
new Archer Avenue tunnel (shared with the IND
Queens Boulevard Line) to Jamaica Center. The original outer end of
the line was elevated into Jamaica. It is said that the businesses who
pushed for the demolition of the end of the Jamaica Ave. El lost a lot
of business after the El was demolished. On Archer Avenue, the
Broadway line uses the lower level which extends past the Jamaica
Center Station and was to be a new line to southeast Queens. This
extension project has not been undertaken to this
date.
The Center Track East of Alabama Ave.
Reports have been conflicting on this issue but it seems
most likely that center track was only installed in the following two
locations: Between 111th St. and 116th St., and again
between 160th and 168th Street on the outer end of the el.
At 111th St. station, the center track, J4/J3, is still in place but
in poor condition. It was formerly used as the turnback track for
Lexington Avenue El trains (from 1917 until the mid-1940s) and then
for a while as midday and weekend layup space. The 160-168th
St. portion was also used for midday layovers.
The rest of the Jamaica Avenue branch was built with
provision for a third track which was never installed. In 1958, a
proposal was made to install a third track, eliminate the "S" curve at
Crescent St. and extend the line directly down Jamaica Avenue to Broadway
Junction. There would have been express stations at Woodhaven and
Sutphin Boulevards. That proposal was shot down by locals who did not
want more noise and less daylight. The alternative proposed was the
Archer Avenue subway, which finally got (partially) built in the late
'80's, to the everlasting regret of the merchants who had championed
its construction. (Thanks to John Vigliotti for the above notes.)
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