Broad Street (BMT Nassau Street Line)

History

On March 19, 1913, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (later reorganized as the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) and the city signed Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts, which provided for the construction of certain lines. Most of the construction was completed by 1924, but the BMT Nassau Street Line was not yet completed. The BMT chairman Gerhard Dahl was persistent at requesting that the city build the line, but Mayor John Hylan refused to act during his final two years as mayor. Once James Walker succeeded him as mayor, contracts for the project were awarded, with the portion south of Liberty Street being awarded to Moranti and Raymond.

Work was projected to be completed in 39 months, and in March 1929, sixty percent of the work had been finished. Nassau Street is only 34 feet (10 m) wide, and the subway floor was only 20 feet (6.1 m) below building foundations. As a result, 89 buildings had to be underpinned to ensure that they would stay on their foundations. Construction had to be done 20 feet below the active IRT Lexington Avenue Line. An area filled with quicksand with water, that used to belong to a spring, was found between John Street and Broad Street. Construction was done at night so as to not disturb workers in the Financial District. The whole cost of the construction of the line was $10,072,000 for the 0.9 miles (1.4 km) extension, or $2,068 a foot, which was three times the normal cost of construction at the time.

The Broad Street station opened on May 29, 1930, to complete the BMT Nassau Street Line, or "Nassau Street Loop," from its previous terminus at Chambers Street through this station and to a connection to the Montague Street Tunnel, which allowed trains to run to Brooklyn. The line's completion allowed subway trains to operate via the Culver Line, whose operation used to consist of elevated trains that ran to Ninth Avenue, where transfers were made to West End subway trains. The new line provided an additional ten percent capacity more than the existing service through DeKalb Avenue. Service on the Jamaica Line was extended to operate to this station.

Despite being actually located on Wall Street, this station was named after Broad Street. This was to distinguish it from the two other stations of that name on the Lexington Avenue Line and Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, located at Wall Street/Broadway and Wall Street/William Street, respectively.

From September 30, 1990 to June 14, 2015, when weekend J service was extended back to Broad Street, this station was closed during weekends, making Broad Street and the station directly to its north, Fulton Street, two of the four New York City Subway stations that lacked full-time service (the remaining two being the platforms for the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle).

Station layout

This station has two tracks and two side platforms. South of this station, there are two center stub tracks ending at bumper blocks used for laying-up and relaying trains. Further south, the two tracks of the BMT Nassau Street Line merge with the BMT Broadway Line via a flying junction as it enters the Montague Street Tunnel into Downtown Brooklyn. No regular service has used this connection since the M train was re-routed from the Nassau Street Line to the IND Sixth Avenue Line in June 2010.

Trains terminate on the southbound track, then continue to one of the two relay tracks before returning on the northbound track to start northbound service to northern Brooklyn and Queens.

This station was renovated in the late 1990s and a mosaic design was added the platform walls. Beneath a small green and gold trim-line is a larger gold trim-line with a maroon border and white "B" and "BROAD ST" tablets on a blue-green background at regular intervals.

Exits

This station has three entrances/exits. The full-time entrance/exit is at the north end above the platforms. Two staircases from each side go up to a mezzanine containing a turnstile bank and token booth. Outside of fare control, two street stairs go up to the southern corners of Wall and Broad Streets. The one outside of the New York Stock Exchange has been closed since the September 11, 2001, attacks, to prevent the Stock Exchange from a possible terrorist attack.

The other two fare entrances/exits are un-staffed and at platform level. The northbound platform has a part-time bank of both regular and HEET turnstiles and three street stairs, one to the northeast corner of Broad Street and Exchange Place and two along Broad Street between Exchange Place and Beaver Street. The southbound platform has turnstiles that were originally HEET access, but were converted to exit-only following the elimination of thru-service at this station, and two staircases to Broad Street between Exchange Place and Beaver Street. There was another staircase here leading to the northwest corner of Broad Street and Exchange Place, but it was also closed after the September 11 attacks.

A proposed new skyscraper at 45 Broad Street will provisionally have an entrance to the station. The entrance may contain elevators, thus making the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The plans call for two elevators, one for each platform, at the northeastern and southwestern corners of Broad Street and Exchange Place.

Out of system transfer to Wall Street

Outside of fare control, the station's main entrance/exit has a long passageway to Wall Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line that is only open weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It first runs north three blocks to the basement of One Chase Manhattan Plaza, where two sets of doors and a wide staircase lead to an unmarked entrance/exit at street level. Halfway through the passageway, a short staircase from the west side leads up to a narrower passageway that runs through the basement of the Equitable Building before two offset High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles provide entrance to the subway system. Inside fare control, the passageway splits in half with each branch leading to either side platform of Wall Street. Free connections between the BMT Nassau Street Line and IRT Lexington Avenue Line are available at the next three stations north (Fulton Street, Chambers Street, and Canal Street).

The stations have a shared exit to the eastern corner of Cedar and Broad Streets.