Division B (IND) Levels 2 Borough Manhattan Added to NRHP 30 March 2005 Tracks 8 (4 on each level) | Structure Underground Opened 10 September 1932 Locale Greenwich Village Level 2 | |
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Line IND Sixth Avenue Line
IND Eighth Avenue Line Services A (all times)
B (weekdays at all hours except late evenings and nights)
C (all times except late nights)
D (all times)
E (all times)
F (all times)
M (weekdays at all hours except late nights) Transit connections NYCT Bus: M55
PATH: JSQ–33, HOB–33, JSQ–33 (via HOB) (at 9th Street) Address New York, NY 10012, United States Similar Bleecker Street/Broadway–Lafayette Street, 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center, 145th Street, 135th Street, 34th Street–Herald Square | ||
West Fourth Street–Washington Square is an express station and transfer stop on the IND Sixth Avenue and IND Eighth Avenue Lines of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of West Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It is served by:
Contents
History
West Fourth Street was one of the 28 stations opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND), the Eighth Avenue Line, from Chambers Street to Inwood–207th Street. At the time, only the upper level was used, with service on the lower level beginning in January 1936 with service from the Eighth Avenue Line to Second Avenue; through service on the Sixth Avenue local tracks began in December 1940. The Sixth Avenue express tracks were built later and were put into through service on November 27, 1967; prior to then, the express tracks here and at 34th Street–Herald Square were used as terminal tracks only.
The station was named West Fourth Street as opposed to merely Fourth Street because the planners of the Independent Subway System believed there would be confusion between this station and South Fourth Street, a proposed transfer station on the never-built IND Second System in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Station layout
West Fourth Street station was built by the IND as the major transfer point between its two Manhattan trunk lines. It can be considered the "heart" of the IND system as it is the location of the zero point on the IND chaining. It is a bi-level station with a connecting concourse between the two platform levels. The Eighth Avenue Line occupies the upper level, while the Sixth Avenue Line uses the lower level. Both levels use identical platform arrangements–two island platforms between four tracks, allowing for cross-platform interchanges between local and express trains in each direction.
There are two fare control areas, one at each end of the station. Both lead directly to the Eighth Avenue Line on the upper level platforms; access to the Sixth Avenue Line on the lower level is via stairs and elevators from the upper level and/or the full-length mezzanine between the two levels. Several escalators are present, which go directly between one of the lower level platforms to its corresponding upper level platform. The elevators, added in April 2005 to make the station ADA-accessible, provide access to both levels and to the mezzanine. This massive station has only four exits despite its size, which illustrates the station's main purpose as a major transfer point between trains on both IND trunk lines.
South of this station, at the curve from under Houston Street to Sixth Avenue on the IND Sixth Avenue Line (lower level), a bellmouth merges with the Queens-bound local track.
Exits
The station does not have an exit to Fourth Street itself anymore, though an exit formerly existed there. The northern exits are on the northern side of 6th Avenue and Waverly Place. Two staircases go up to the northeast corner, both built into alcoves of stores, and one to the northwest corner. The southern exits are at West Third Street, on the east and west sides of 6th Avenue.
There are also four additional closed exits at the center of the station: two at Washington Place, and two at West 4th Street itself.