Chapter 3: Brooklyn Company Routes and Stations

New Subways For New York: The Dual System of Rapid Transit · Public Service Commission

Street Surface of Fourth Avenue Near 37th Street Restored After Subway Construction.

The Brooklyn company's part of the Dual System will embrace the existing elevated lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system and several City-owned subway lines, together with certain extensions of the former to be built by the company. The new lines and the extra tracking of existing lines will add 155 miles of single track to the existing elevated system, which covers 105 miles, making a total of 260 miles in the Brooklyn company's part of the Dual System. Of the new mileage 110.41 will be in subway lines, 35.29 in elevated extensions and 9.3 in extra tracking of elevated roads. The subway lines will be built in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the elevated extensions in Brooklyn and Queens.

The Broadway Subway.

The Brooklyn company, which, at present, operates no lines in Manhattan, will have for operation, under the Dual System, a new subway line in Manhattan with which, by tunnels and bridges, it will connect its elevated system in Brooklyn and Queens. It will also operate the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn and the Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan. The proposed Broadway Subway in Manhattan, to be built by the City and operated by this company, will run from Whitehall Street, Manhattan, north through Trinity Place, Church Street, Vesey Street and Broadway to 42nd Street, thence through Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, and through 59th Street and 60th Street to and over the Queensborough Bridge. This subway will be a two-track road from Whitehall Street to Park Place, a four-track road from Park Place and Broadway to 59th Street and a two-track road through 59th Street to Fifth Avenue, where one track will diverge to 60th Street, and both will continue to and over the Queensborough Bridge. At the Queens end of the bridge it will connect with the proposed elevated lines to Astoria and Corona, so that Broadway subway trains may be operated through, to and from both of those points.

Surface of Broadway North of Park Place Showing Contractor's Platform At City Hail Park, Singer Building in Distance. Broadway Subway Construction.

The Broadway subway will be connected with Brooklyn by three different lines. One will be a subway and tunnel running from the Fourth Avenue Subway at DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, through Willoughby Street and Montague Street, under the East River to Whitehall Street, where it will join the Broadway Subway running north through Whitehall Street, Trinity Place, Church and Vesey Streets to Broadway.

Another connection will be made at Broadway and Canal Street by a two-track subway eastward through Canal Street and crossing under the Centre Street Loop Subway to and over the Manhattan Bridge by the tracks leading into the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn.

Another connection (non-physical) will be made at 14th Street and Broadway by a new two-track subway to run from Sixth Avenue and 14th Street east through 14th Street and under the East River to North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, and thence through North Seventh Street, Metropolitan Avenue and Bushwick Avenue to Johnson Avenue, thence to be continued as a two and three-track elevated line through Johnson Avenue and Wyckoff Avenue or other streets to a connection with the existing Broadway elevated line, connecting at one point also with the Myrtle Avenue elevated line. This route is what is known as the Eastern District Rapid Transit line.

It is not yet finally determined whether this road will be built through Wyckoff Avenue. The Commission is considering an alternative route, and it is possible that such a route will be adopted, as the contracts provide for the selection of a substitute route on any line where it is impossible to get the consents for the original route.

Surface of Broadway North of Chambers Street-Temporary Roadway and By-Passed Gas Mains-Woolworth Building in Distance. Broadway Subway Construction.

The Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan, now nearly completed, will form an important part of the Brooklyn company's new system, and will probably be the first line in Manhattan to be operated by that company. The Centre Street Loop Subway begins at Chambers Street and Park Row near the Manhattan terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge and runs north as a four-track subway through Centre Street to Delancey Street Extension and through Delancey Street Extension to and over the Williamsburg Bridge across the East River. A spur will leave this line at Canal Street and run as a two-track subway over the Manhattan Bridge. Under the Dual System plan the Centre Street Loop Subway will be continued as a two-track road south in Nassau Street and Broad Street to a connection with the proposed tunnel from Whitehall Street, Manhattan, to Montague Street, Brooklyn. While the loop is already connected with the tracks over the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, there is no physical connection with the Brooklyn Bridge, but such a connection is now being built, so that eventually the Centre Street Loop will be linked up with the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the Manhattan and Williamsburg structures. By using Brooklyn Bridge and a part of the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn company will be enabled to send trains from all of its elevated lines into Manhattan by way of the Centre Street Loop and, if desirable, can send trains around the loop by dispatching them into Manhattan over one bridge and back to Brooklyn by another.

Partially Completed Subway Near 37th Street Beneath Above Scene, Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) Subway.

The Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, which is being built by the City and is now nearly completed, will be extended from its present terminus at 43rd Street and Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, down Fourth Avenue to 89th Street and will be operated by the Brooklyn company. It runs from the Brooklyn end of the Manhattan Bridge, through Flatbush Avenue Extension partly as a six-track subway, to Fulton Street, and thence as a four-track subway through Fulton Street, Ashland Place and Fourth Avenue to 43rd Street. The proposed extension will be a four-track subway as far as 65th Street, at which point a two-track subway and tunnel, to be built in the future, will diverge to Staten Island. From 65th Street to 89th Street the extension will be a two-track subway, but it will be built in the west side of Fourth Avenue, so that two additional tracks may be laid in the future if desirable.

Fourth Avenue Near 22nd Street-Surface Restored After Subway Construction.

With this subway the Brooklyn company will connect most of its existing South Brooklyn and Coney Island lines. The Brighton will be connected with the Fourth Avenue Subway by an extension of the latter to be built through Fulton Street to St. Felix Street and under the property of the Long Island Railroad Company, and through private property to Flatbush Avenue and out Flatbush Avenue to a connection with the Brighton Beach line at Malbone Street.

Brooklyn Elevated Extensions.

From the Fourth Avenue Subway at 38th Street a new subway will be built running through the property of the South Brooklyn Railway Company to Tenth Avenue and thence by an elevated railroad over Tenth Avenue to New Utrecht Avenue and thence over the route of the existing Brooklyn Rapid Transit line, as an elevated road, through New Utrecht Avenue, 86th Street and Stillwell Avenue to Coney Island. From 38th Street and Ninth Avenue an extension will be built as all elevated road along 37th Street to Gravesend Avenue and thence along Gravesend Avenue over the route of the present Culver Line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, as an elevated road, to Surf Avenue, Coney Island. The Sea Beach line to Coney Island will also be connected with the Fourth Avenue Subway by a new subway to be built eastward from the Fourth Avenue line through 65th Street to a junction with the Sea Beach line.

The Brooklyn company will also extend its Myrtle Avenue Elevated line to Lutheran Cemetery, its Cypress Hills Elevated line through Jamaica Avenue and Fulton Street to Grand Avenue, Jamaica, and its City Line Elevated road through Liberty Avenue to Lefferts Avenue, Richmond Hill.

The above additions and extensions will add to the Brooklyn company's system 32.7 miles of single track in Manhattan, 4.8 miles of single track in Queens (including Queensborough Bridge), and 117.5 miles of single track in Brooklyn (including East River tunnels).

Routes in Brooklyn Company's System.

Stations on Brooklyn Company's Lines.

As in the case of the Interborough, the Commission makes the station locations on City-owned lines of the Brooklyn company, while those on the elevated extensions (company-owned) are made by the company. As the company has not submitted all plans for elevated extensions, it is impossible at this time to give the location of the elevated line stations. These stations, however, will be shown on a map of the Dual System soon to be issued, and copies of that map will be made on a scale suitable for insertion in this booklet. The following list shows the proposed locations as fixed by the Commission on City-owned lines: