Division A (IRT) Levels 2 Borough Manhattan Added to NRHP 30 March 2005 | Structure Underground Opened 17 July 1918 Locale Upper East Side Level 2 | |
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Line IRT Lexington Avenue Line Services 4 (all times)
5 (all except late nights)
6 (all times) <6> (weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction) Transit connections NYCT Bus: M86 SBS, M98, M101, M102, M103
MTA Bus: BxM1 Address New York, NY 10028, United States Similar 96th Street, 110th Street, Wall Street, Spring Street, 116th Street | ||
Mta new york city subway 86th street irt lexington avenue line
86th Street is an express station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 86th Street on the Upper East Side, it is served by the 4 and 6 trains at all times, the 5 train at all times except late nights, and the <6> during weekdays in peak direction.
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Station layout
This underground station, opened on July 17, 1918 as part of an expansion of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line north of Grand Central – 42nd Street, is built on two levels. Each level has two tracks and two side platforms. The upper level serves local trains while the lower level serves express trains. There is no express service during late nights and the lower level is closed during that period. Three staircases connect the levels on each side.
There are no crossovers or crossunders between the platforms, making this one of only three express stations in the system where free transfers between opposite directions are not possible (the other is Nostrand Avenue on the IND Fulton Street Line, and Bergen Street, whose lower level is closed, on the IND Culver Line). Each platform has its original Dual Contracts trim line consisting mostly of yellows and browns. Small "86" tablets in a circle run along this trim line. The name tablets have "86TH STREET" in white Times New Roman font on a reddish-brown background with a light-brown inner border and green outer border. Dark-blue columns run along all four platforms at regular intervals.
This station underwent three renovations. The first took place with the opening of a Gimbels department store directly above in the early 1970s. The renovation took place mostly in the fare control areas. The second renovation was completed by 1986 as part of a move to prevent the existing New York City Subway stations from falling apart after years of deferred maintenance; this is evidenced by the addition of the then standard orange platform edge in addition to the yellow platform edge that was originally there, as well as painting the I Beams red instead of the original blue and fixing all the other parts of the station. The third renovation was completed by Fall 2004. It consisted of repainting the I beams from red to dark blue, as well as the removal of train arrival devices on the upper level that gave notices of approaching express trains on the lower level, among other things; the latter were replaced with countdown clocks, on both levels, which performed the same function.
Each upper level platform has one same-level fare control area in the center. The southbound side has a turnstile bank, token booth, two staircases going up to southwest corner of East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue, and two more that are built inside a Best Buy store on the northwest corner of the same intersection. The northbound fare control has an unstaffed turnstile bank and two staircases going up to the southeast corner of East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue. Two more staircases are built inside a shopping arcade that is in the basement of a former Petco store on the northeast corner of the same intersection. The building is currently occupied by other businesses.
The 2004 artwork here is called Happy City by Peter Sis. It consists of four different glass and etched stone mosaic murals in the shapes of huge eyes surrounded by various animals and objects. They are located at each top of the four staircases near the fare control areas that go down to the lower level express platforms.
This station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 2005.