DeKalb Avenue (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)

This article is about the New York City Subway station complex at DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues. For the station at DeKalb and Wyckoff Avenues, see DeKalb Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line).

DeKalb Avenue New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address	DeKalb Avenue & Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11201
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Downtown Brooklyn
Coordinates	40°41′25″N 73°58′56″W / 40.690254°N 73.982277°W / 40.690254; -73.982277Coordinates: 40°41′25″N 73°58′56″W / 40.690254°N 73.982277°W / 40.690254; -73.982277
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Brighton Line BMT Fourth Avenue Line
Services	B  (weekdays until 11 p.m.)       D  (late nights)       N  (late nights)       Q  (all times)       R  (all except late nights)
Connection	New York City Bus: B25, B26, B38 B38LTD, B52, B54
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	6 (2 bypass)
Other information
Opened	June 19, 1915 (Fourth Avenue) August 1, 1920 (Brighton)
Accessible
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	5,079,961[1]  1.3%
Rank	84 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	Canal Street (Broadway via bridge): Q  Jay Street – MetroTech (Broadway via tunnel): N  R  Grand Street (Sixth Avenue via bridge): B  D  Myrtle Avenue (closed)
Next south	Atlantic Avenue (Brighton): B  Q  Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street (Fourth Avenue): D  N  R
Next north	14th Street – Union Square (Broadway via bridge): Q  Jay Street – MetroTech (Broadway via tunnel): N  R  West Fourth Street – Washington Square (Sixth Avenue via bridge): B  D
Next south	Atlantic Avenue (Brighton): B  Q  Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street (Fourth Avenue): D  N  R
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops in station at all times Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekends only Stops weekdays only Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only Station is closed (Details about time periods)

DeKalb Avenue is a local station shared by the BMT Fourth Avenue Line and the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. It is served by the Q train at all times, the R train at all times except late nights, the B train on weekdays and the D and N trains during late nights.

Description

HEET turnstiles

This underground station, opened on June 19, 1915 and completed on August 1, 1920, has six tracks with island platforms between the two outer pairs of tracks. The two center tracks bypass the station and are used by the D and N trains during daytime hours. B, Q, and late night D trains stop at the outermost tracks, R and late night N trains stop at the inner platform tracks. The platform columns are painted red on their lower halves and cream on their upper halves.

North of the station, the outer and bypass tracks head towards the Manhattan Bridge with a flying junction that allows trains to use either the north side of the bridge (via the Chrystie Street Connection to the IND Sixth Avenue Line) (B and D trains) or the south side of the bridge (to the BMT Broadway Line) (N and Q trains). The middle tracks continue north along the BMT Fourth Avenue Line into the Montague Street Tunnel towards the BMT Broadway Line (late night N and R trains) or BMT Nassau Street Line (currently unused in regular service).

South of the station, the bypass tracks become the express tracks on the Fourth Avenue Line (daytime D and N trains). The four remaining tracks become six tracks at a flying junction. (Detailed view of current track layout) Trains headed south on the tunnel tracks or outer tracks proceed to the Brighton Line (B and Q trains) or switches from those two tracks provide the route to the local tracks of the Fourth Avenue Line (D, N and R trains). In the current service pattern, the tunnel route is not used for Brighton Line trains.

Since it opened, DeKalb Avenue has been a major transfer point between BMT services, with the lines splitting north and south of the station. Platform extensions were built into a curve south of the station in 1927 to allow for longer trains. They were closed and replaced by straight extensions to the north in 1960. The abandoned portions can be seen from the open platforms and trains.

The station has a shortened mezzanine because room was needed for a proposed Lafayette Avenue line. The subway connection was never built. North of this station, near the Manhattan Bridge, there is a provision for a never-built loop back to southern Brooklyn without crossing the Manhattan Bridge into Manhattan. Bellmouths for the unbuilt loop are visible from passing trains. South of this station, a junction was built at Fulton Street for a never-built branch to run via Lafayette Ave and Broadway.

Entrances/Exits

This station has two entrances/exits. The full-time one is near the extreme south end and has two staircases and one elevator from each platform that go up to a waiting area above the platforms and tracks that contains two restrooms open from 5:00 a.m. to midnight. Outside of the turnstile bank is a token booth, a single street stair to the southwest corner of DeKalb Avenue and the Flatbush Avenue extension built inside a store front, and two staircases that meet at their landings and an elevator that go up to the southeast corner outside an Applebee's restaurant.

The other entrance/exit is at the station's extreme north end and unstaffed. An up-only escalator and long staircase from each platform goes up to a mezzanine above the tracks. Two pairs of exit-only turnstiles and one set of three HEET turnstiles provide entrance/exit from the system. This entrance has two street stairs, one to Albee Square on the west side of Flatbush Avenue and the other to Fleet Street on the east side outside Long Island University.

The center of the platforms has a crossunder that connects them both. Both fare control areas feature a 2005 artwork called DeKalb Improvisation by Stephen Johnson. It consists of a large mural in the main fare control area and several smaller ones in the secondary one.

History

The station has been reconfigured a number of times. The current configuration dates from a 1956–61 reconstruction project to straighten the platforms and eliminate a level junction north of the station that had caused a switching bottleneck. A station at Myrtle Avenue was closed as part of the renovation.

As originally configured, the extreme outside tracks in each direction hosted the Fourth Avenue Line local tracks and the next pair hosted the Brighton Line. The middle tracks, which bypassed the station, hosted the Fourth Avenue express tracks. A group of level crossovers at the northern end of the station allowed all tracks access to both sides of the Manhattan Bridge and to the Montague Street Tunnel.

Prior to the DeKalb Av track realignments in the late 1950s/early 1960s, the Fourth Avenue local tracks actually straight railed to the Manhattan Bridge. The alignment of the Brighton line tracks led into the present B2 tunnel track in the DeKalb Avenue station and the bypass. During the reconstruction, the Brighton tracks to the bypass were realigned directly into Dekalb and current A3 and A4 bridge tracks were added to the outside of the former subway infrastructure.

The current configuration was started in 1956 and completed in April 1961. (Detailed view of current track layout) All switches immediately north of the station were eliminated. The junction towards the Manhattan Bridge was rebuilt. To make room for a new flying junction, the Myrtle Avenue station was closed. That station's northbound platform remains visible from passing trains, but the southbound platform was demolished.

The Chrystie Street Connection project was also tied to this improvement, as it resulted in more trains using the bridge. Over the years, as more of the business community shifted to midtown, the slower tunnel route became less popular, and it is now the least used of the three northbound routing options.

An earlier plan called the Ashland Place Connection would have allowed trains on the elevated BMT Fulton Street Line to run into the subway through DeKalb Avenue, making the bottleneck even worse. This was not built, in part because the city was more interested in building its own system, the IND.^[2] However, a whole new subway was also planned, splitting from this line and heading under the East River to the BMT Broadway Line at City Hall. This plan was considered in various forms between late 1916 and 1926.

Street stair

The DeKalb Avenue station was built with provisions for a possible track connection to Nevins Street on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line; see that page for details.

Station ID mosaic

Station overhaul

After the 1961 reconstruction period, some adjustments were made to the station. In the late 1960s, the station platforms were extended northward at least 150 feet to accommodate for a 600 foot long train. It also added new 60's modern look tiling.

Dekalb Avenue received another overhaul in the 1970s where the station's structure and over all appearance were improved. The MTA fixed and replaced wall tiles, old signs, and incandescent lighting to the 70's modern look wall tiles, signs and fluorescent lights. Staircases and platform edges were also fixed.

The latest major overhaul was in 2004–2006. The station was repaired as well as upgraded for ADA-accessibility. The MTA repaired the staircases, re-tiled the walls, added new tiles to the floors, upgraded the station's lights and public address system, installed ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge and replaced the trackbeds for all trains entering or bypassing the station. It also installed elevators on both platforms, as well as elevators to the street level.^[3]

References

1. ^ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". New York, NY: Metropolitan Transportation Authority. http://mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_sub_annual.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 
2. ^ nycsubway.org
3. ^ MTA (February 2004). "MTA Capital Program Information" (PDF). p. 16. http://www.mta.info/mta/budget/feb2004-finplan/feb2004-5.pdf. Retrieved March 28, 2010. 

• "Better Fulton St. Transit", New York Times December 30, 1916; page 10 (the first mention of the Ashland Place Connection in the New York Times)
• "Plans New Transit Tube to Brooklyn", New York Times December 7, 1919; page E1
• "Wants Subway Pushed", New York Times December 20, 1926; page 16 (the last mention of the Ashland Place Connection in the New York Times)
• "Construction of New IND Tunnel for 6th Ave. Line Begins Today", New York Times April 19, 1961; page 41

External links

Media related to DeKalb Avenue (BMT Fourth Avenue Line) at Wikimedia Commons

• nycsubway.org — BMT Brighton Line: DeKalb Avenue
• nycsubway.org — DeKalb Improvisation Artwork by Stephen T. Johnson (2004):
• nycsubway.org — Detailed track layout around DeKalb Ave:
• Station Reporter — B Train
• Station Reporter — Q Train
• Station Reporter — R Train
• The Subway Nut — DeKalb Avenue Pictures
• MTA's Arts For Transit — DeKalb Avenue (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)
• DeKalb Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Fleet Street entrance from Google Maps Street View