Broadway Junction (New York City Subway)

History

What is now Broadway Junction sits atop the historical Jamaica Pass, the junction of the modern Broadway, Fulton Street, and Jamaica Avenue. The first rail service in the area was the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch at East New York station, which started construction in 1836 and was complete by at least 1843. The Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (the predecessor to the BMT Canarsie Line) began service in the area in 1865. The name Manhattan Junction or Manhattan Beach Junction was applied to the station on what is now the Jamaica Line when it opened in 1885; the area had been known as Manhattan Beach Crossing since before then, due to the crossing of the LIRR's Manhattan Beach Division. A station on the Fulton Street Elevated at Sackman Street opened on July 4, 1889, when the line was extended to Atlantic Avenue.

A two-track, one-half-block elevated connection was built along on the east side of Vesta Avenue (now Van Sinderen Avenue) between the Fulton Street and Broadway Lines. This connection, equipped with third rail, was opened on August 9, 1900, and new service patterns were implemented: during times other than rush hours, Lexington Avenue and Fulton Street trains were through-routed, and travel beyond Manhattan Junction required a transfer. This "East New York Loop" was unpopular, and was soon stopped; the next service to use the tracks was the BMT Canarsie Line to Broadway Ferry (later the 15 train), joined to the Fulton Street Line at Pitkin and Snediker Avenues in 1906.

The name was changed from Manhattan Junction to Broadway Junction in 1913. During the Dual Contracts in the 1910s, bidirectional express tracks were added to the Fulton and Broadway Els, while the current Broadway El station at Eastern Parkway opened on August 5, 1919, replacing the old Manhattan Junction station. The full BMT 14th Street-Canarsie Line was completed on July 14, 1928 with the opening of the segment connecting Broadway Junction with Montrose Avenue.

By 1936, the IND Fulton Street Line had been extended to Rockaway Avenue. At that time, Broadway Junction was an all-BMT transfer point. Further eastward extension of the line was delayed by World War II; the Broadway – East New York station opened in 1946, with the escalator passageway between the IND and BMT completed on July 1, 1948. The Fulton Street El was now redundant, and BMT service on the line closed entirely on April 26, 1956, with the eastern portion to Lefferts Boulevard connected to the IND.

The entire complex was renovated in the late 1990s. For a long time, the stations within the complex went by three different names: Eastern Parkway (later Broadway - Eastern Parkway) (BMT Jamaica Line), Broadway Junction (BMT Canarsie Line), and Broadway – East New York (IND Fulton Street Line). Conformity between the station names was established in the early 2000s.

Station layout

The station complex is composed of three stations: the two elevated stations on the BMT Jamaica and Canarsie Lines, as well as the underground station on the IND Fulton Street Line. The IND station is accessible from the station's ground-level station house, at the east end of the station complex, using staircases down to platform level. The BMT lines are reachable from that same station house via newly replaced escalators from street level to the upper mezzanine, which is located over the elevated BMT Jamaica Line platforms and at the BMT Canarsie Line's platform level. A footbridge leads from the upper mezzanine to the BMT Canarsie Line's northbound platform.

Exit

The fare control area is in the station house, with a token booth and turnstile banks. This was built along with the IND station. The station house leads to Van Sinderen Avenue between Fulton Street to the south, and Truxton Street and Broadway to the north. This is the only entrance to the entire complex. There is also a police precinct located in the station house, NYPD Transit Police District 33, at the south end of the building. The station was previously part of Transit Police District 23. The station house is adjacent to Callahan-Kelly Playground, and is recessed a short distance west from Van Sinderen Avenue.

A ventilation structure for the IND line sits at the west end of the park at Sackman Street. An additional exit from the IND station may have been in this area, though no evidence exists today.

BMT Canarsie Line platforms

Broadway Junction on the BMT Canarsie Line has two tracks, one island platform, and one side platform. Manhattan-bound trains use the island platform for northbound service while Canarsie-bound trains use the side platform for southbound service (similar to the configuration of the Bowling Green station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line). However, unlike Bowling Green, the latter can use the island platform if necessary.

This station opened on July 14, 1928, and is one of the highest elevated platforms in the city, sitting above the already-elevated BMT Jamaica Line. As high as this station platform is, it plunges abruptly into a tunnel at the north end. This end of the station slopes sharply downward, and the platform end is about 200 yards (180 m) away from the tunnel's portal. A new diamond crossover has been installed here.

The south end of the northbound platform divides into two "legs." Two normally-unused tracks connect the Canarsie and Jamaica lines. Occasionally, a train being rerouted will use these tracks. The southbound track can be seen emerging beneath the two "legs" of the northbound platform; the northbound "flyover" with its severe curve can be seen just east of the station, beginning near the signal tower. Since 1999, this station has been undergoing a series of renovations, including new canopies, a new crossover (known as 'The Barn' because of its rustic red siding and white trim), and the removal of a hazardous crossunder. The old-style platform lights were removed and replaced with "loop" fixtures, widely seen elsewhere in the system.

The 2001 artwork is called Brooklyn, New Morning by Al Loving.

BMT Jamaica Line platforms

Broadway Junction is an express station on the BMT Jamaica Line that has three tracks and two island platforms. The middle express track is not used in regular revenue service. At each end of the station are also track connections to the East New York Yard. Trains that run to/from that yard can terminate or begin at this station.

The station was originally called Broadway – Eastern Parkway, named for its original exit on the extreme west end of the platforms. This entrance is now closed, though the street stairs and station house are still present. A second fare control area at Conway Street in the middle of the platforms was also closed, and was removed in the 2000s. The ironwork for the old Fulton El trackways can be seen under this portion of the complex from the platforms. Two staircases from each platform lead to the upper mezzanine of the complex. The mezzanine is above the platforms and connects to the Canarsie Line and to the exit at street level via two long escalators. At street level, there is a transfer to the underground IND Fulton Street Line and the fare control area. The upper mezzanine extends one-third of the length of the platforms and is made of concrete. Windows were once present, but are now cemented over.

IND Fulton Street Line platforms

Broadway Junction on the IND Fulton Street Line, formerly called Broadway–East New York, is a standard express station with four tracks and two island platforms.

Constructed in the 1930s, the station was nearly complete when the United States' entrance into World War II in 1941 halted construction due to material shortages. Work resumed following the war to install the necessary signal and trackwork and complete the escalator to the BMT platforms. The contract for the 43-foot (13 m) escalator was awarded on November 7, 1945 to the Otis Elevator Company. The station opened on December 30, 1946, while the escalator was completed on July 1, 1948 after supply delays. Callahan-Kelly Playground was built along with the station, clearing buildings in the area in order to facilitate the station and other utilities. In the early 1950s, the platforms were extended to 660 feet (200 m) to accommodate 11-car trains.

The station's tile band is unique in that it incorporates two types of tile – gloss and matte – in contrasting shades of cobalt blue (gloss border) and blueberry (matte center). When the station was renamed in 2003, the "EAST NY" tiles on the wall were removed and replaced by tiles reading "JUNCTION", in the matching IND copperplate font. There is an active control tower just past the head end of the Queens-bound platform.

East of the station, the tunnel widens on both sides to accommodate an additional trackway diverging from the local tracks. These bellmouths were built for a proposed extension along the BMT Jamaica Line, or for a proposed Jamaica Avenue Subway. It was not a provision for the IND Second System, as were similar structures on other IND lines, but rather date from an earlier plan for the IND Fulton Street Line, which would have connected the IND tracks west of the station to two lines to the east of the station: the BMT Jamaica Line tracks, and the BMT Fulton Street Line tracks to Lefferts Boulevard (which were eventually connected to the IND Fulton Street Line anyway, albeit past Grant Avenue). One of these bellmouths has an emergency exit. There is nothing on the model board in the Broadway/East New York tower to show this provision.