Myrtle Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line)

Myrtle Avenue New York City Subway rapid transit station
Lower platforms (in operation)
Station statistics
Address	Myrtle Avenue & Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11206
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick
Coordinates	40°41′49″N 73°56′07″W / 40.696941°N 73.935285°W / 40.696941; -73.935285Coordinates: 40°41′49″N 73°56′07″W / 40.696941°N 73.935285°W / 40.696941; -73.935285
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Jamaica Line
Services	J  (all times)       M  (all times)       Z  (rush hours, peak direction)
Connection	New York City Bus: B15, B46, B47, B54
Structure	Elevated
Levels	2
Platforms	2 island platforms (lower level) cross-platform interchange 1 island platform (upper level; abandoned)
Tracks	3 on lower level, 2 abandoned trackways on upper level
Other information
Opened	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
Former/other names	Myrtle Avenue – Broadway
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	2,991,967[1]  2.68%
Rank	168 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	Kosciuszko Street (local): J  (Z  skips to Gates Avenue) Broadway Junction (express): no regular service (Terminal): M  Flushing Avenue: M
Next south	Flushing Avenue (local): J  Marcy Avenue (express): J  Z  Central Avenue (Myrtle): M  Sumner Avenue (Myrtle Avenue; demolished)
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops in station at all times Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekends only Stops weekdays only Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only Station is closed (Details about time periods)

Myrtle Avenue (announced as Myrtle Avenue – Broadway on the R160s to distinguish it from the nearby Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues station) is a two-level express station on the BMT Jamaica Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Broadway in Brooklyn, it is served by J and M trains at all times and the Z during rush hours in peak direction.

All service is on the lower level of the station. The upper level, previously serving the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line to Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, carries no tracks and is now abandoned.

Lower level

This elevated station, opened on June 25, 1888, has three tracks and two island platforms. The J and Z trains use the middle track for peak-direction express service on weekdays while the M train uses it as a terminal track for its late night and weekend shuttle service to Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue. The rest of the time, both the J and M trains are on the local tracks.

Both platforms have brown canopies with green support columns and frames for their entire length except for a small section at either ends. The station signs are in the standard black plates in white lettering.

This station has an elevated station house to the west underneath the skeletal remains of the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line. Two staircases from each platform go down to an elevated crossunder, where a shorter staircase on the Queens-bound side leads to the station house's waiting area. Outside the turnstile bank, there is a token booth and two staircases going down to either western corners of Myrtle Avenue and Broadway.

The 1999 artwork here is called Jammin' Under the El by Verna Art. It consists of stained glass windows on the platforms' sign structures as well as the station house depicting various scenes related to music.

North of this station, an "S" curve connects the BMT Jamaica Line to the Myrtle Avenue Line, used by the M train. This is one of the few remaining non-flying junctions in the subway that are still controlled by slip switches.^[2]

Upper level

The upper level of this station was originally at Stuyvesant Avenue.^[3] When the Myrtle Avenue Elevated opened on April 27, 1888,^[3] the station was moved to Broadway make a transfer to the BMT Jamaica Line possible.^[4] The upper-level station contained two tracks and an island platform, with stairs to both of the existing platforms on the lower level. The Myrtle Avenue El was extended to Wyckoff Avenue on July 21.^[5] The next stop on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line to the west was Sumner Avenue until that section of the line closed on November 3, 1969.

Gallery

• 

  The abandoned upper level

• 

  An R160A M Shuttle train on the center track

• 

  South stair

References

1. ^ "Facts and Figures: 2010 Annual Subway Ridership". New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. http://mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_sub_annual.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-18. 
2. ^ BMT Nassau St./Jamaica Line: Myrtle Avenue at nycsubway.org; see photos on that page.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Will Open on Saturday". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 1. April 25, 1889. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1889/04/25&Page=1&skin=BE. 
4. ^ "It Reaches Broadway". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 6. April 5, 1889. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1889/04/05&Page=6&skin=BE. 
5. ^ "Lost the Second Game". Brooklyn Daily Eagle: p. 2. July 21, 1889. http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Default/Scripting/ArchiveView.asp?BaseHref=BEG/1889/07/21&Page=2&skin=BE. 

External links

• nycsubway.org — BMT Jamaica Line: Myrtle Avenue
• Station Reporter — J Train
• Station Reporter — M Train
• The Subway Nut — Myrtle Avenue Pictures
• MTA's Arts For Transit — Myrtle Avenue (BMT Jamaica Line)
• Myrtle Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View