Fulton Street (New York City Subway)
Encyclopedia
Fulton Street is a station
Metro station
A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". It is often underground or elevated. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level....

 complex on the New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

 in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...

, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It consists of four linked stations on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The Lexington Avenue Line is one of the lines of the IRT division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The portion in Lower and Midtown Manhattan was part of the first subway line in New York...

, the BMT Nassau Street Line
BMT Nassau Street Line
The BMT Nassau Street Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system in Manhattan. It is served by the and trains which are colored brown on maps and signage...

, the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line, and the IND Eighth Avenue Line
IND Eighth Avenue Line
The Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in New York City, United States, and is part of the B Division of the New York City Subway...

. The first three cross Fulton Street
Fulton Street (Manhattan)
Fulton Street is a busy street located in Lower Manhattan. It is in New York City's Financial District, a few blocks north of Wall Street. It runs from Church Street at the site of the World Trade Center to South Street, terminating in front of the South Street Seaport...

 at Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...

, Nassau Street
Nassau Street (Manhattan)
Nassau Street is a street in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan, located near Pace University and New York City Hall. It starts at Wall Street and runs north to Frankfort Street at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, lying one block east of Broadway and east of Park Row...

, and William Street
William Street (Manhattan)
William Street is a city street in the Financial District of lower Manhattan in New York City in the United States of America. It runs generally southwest to northeast, crossing Wall Street and terminating at Broad Street and Spruce Street, respectively. Between Beaver Street and Broad Street,...

 respectively; the Eighth Avenue Line station is underneath Fulton Street, between Broadway and Nassau Streets. The station is the eleventh busiest in the system as of 2010 with 18,303,963 passengers.
The complex is served by the following trains:
  • 2
    2 (New York City Subway service)
    The 2 Seventh Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored red on station signs, route signs, and the official subway map, since it uses the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line through most of Manhattan....

    , 4
    4 (New York City Subway service)
    The 4 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored green on station signs, route signs, and the official subway map, since it uses the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan....

    , and A
    A (New York City Subway service)
    The A Eighth Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. Its route bullet is colored blue on route signs, station signs, and the official subway map since it runs on the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan....

    trains at all times
  • 3
    3 (New York City Subway service)
    The 3 Seventh Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored red on station signs, route signs and the official subway map, since it uses the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line through most of Manhattan....

    , 5
    5 (New York City Subway service)
    The 5 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored green on station signs, route signs, and the official subway map, since it uses IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan....

    , and C
    C (New York City Subway service)
    The C Eighth Avenue Local is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored blue on route signs, station signs, and the official subway map, since it runs on the IND Eighth Avenue Line through Manhattan....

    trains at all times except late nights
  • J trains on weekdays
  • Z trains during rush hours in the peak direction


The Fulton Street Transit Center
Fulton Street Transit Center
The Fulton Street Transit Center is a $1.4 billion project under construction of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , a public agency of the state of New York...

 is a project, currently in progress, that will improve access throughout the transfer station, introduce a new station building, and provide easier access to the World Trade Center site
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...

.

IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line platform

Fulton Street on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line opened on August 1, 1918 as part of an extension towards Brooklyn but originally opened to a temporary terminus at Wall Street before the Clark Street Tunnel
Clark Street Tunnel
The Clark Street Tunnel carries the trains of the New York City Subway under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was opened for revenue service on Tuesday, April 15, 1919, relieving crowding on the Joralemon Street Tunnel and providing passengers with a direct route...

 could open.

Station layout

Fulton Street station has a standard local configuration of two tracks and one island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

. Brooklyn-bound trains use track K2 while uptown trains use track K3. These designations come from track chaining
New York City Subway chaining
New York City Subway chaining is a method to precisely specify locations along the New York City Subway lines. It measures distances from a fixed point, called chaining zero, following the twists and turns of the railroad line, so that the distance described is understood to be the "railroad...

 which measures track distances and are not used in normal conversation. Based on this chaining, Fulton Street is about 19,700 ft (3.73 mi) from post zero at Broadway and 44th Street since this is where the West Side Line "merges" with the 42nd Street Shuttle. This is slightly non-standard signage because it is a local station using express track numbers as these tracks become the express tracks on the main line, providing a reasonable explanation.

The station has two mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...

s, separated at Fulton Street. The full-time entrance is to the south mezzanine, at the southeast corner of Fulton and William Streets. There are also part-time entrances mid-block on William Street, and through an office building on John Street. The north mezzanine is open part-time, with an entrance through an office building on the northeast corner of Fulton and William Streets. Like Wall Street, the next station south, there is a narrow island platform and a number of comparatively narrow staircases up to the mezzanine level.

IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms

Fulton Street is a stop on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.

History

Opened on January 16, 1905 as part of a one-stop extension southbound from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. This marked the first time that the subway had been extended further downtown and towards Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

; the previous terminus, Brooklyn Bridge, was also the original subway's southern end.

Station layout

Despite being on the Lexington Avenue Line, the station actually lies underneath Broadway between Cortlandt and Fulton Streets, as the line takes its name from its Upper East Side trunk avenue. A number of exits to street level are available at Dey, John, and Fulton Streets, while the connecting passage to the other stations within the Fulton Street complex lies underneath the latter.

Because the local tracks loop at the abandoned City Hall
City Hall (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
City Hall, also known as City Hall Loop, was the original southern terminal station of the first line of the New York City Subway, built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company , named the "Manhattan Main Line", and now part of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line...

 station to the north, Fulton Street has only two tracks and two side platform
Side platform
A Side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, a tram stop or a transitway. A pair of side platforms are often provided on a dual track line with a single side platform being sufficient for a single track line...

s. The station, which is now a registered New York City Landmark, features a mosaic of the steamboat built by Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton
Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...

. The southbound platform incorporates an ornate entrance to the building at 195 Broadway
195 Broadway
195 Broadway is a 29-story building on Broadway in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was the longtime headquarters of American Telephone and Telegraph, as well as Western Union for a time. It occupies an entire block on one side of Broadway, running from Dey...

, which features fluted columns, engraved metal signs, ornate railings, and blacked out store windows.

Further reading

  • Lee Stokey. Subway Ceramics : A History and Iconography. 1994. ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0

BMT Nassau Street Line platforms

Fulton Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line has two tracks and two side platform
Side platform
A Side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, a tram stop or a transitway. A pair of side platforms are often provided on a dual track line with a single side platform being sufficient for a single track line...

s, with downtown trains on the upper level and uptown trains on the lower level due to the narrowness of Nassau Street. The entrance for uptown trains is on the west side of Nassau Street, and the entrance for downtown trains is on the east side of Nassau Street. It is possible to cross between the uptown and downtown sides via the IND platform, which passes underneath both levels of this station.

Exits are to Nassau Street and Fulton Street. There is a south exit to John Street that is open only during rush hours and a sealed north end exit to Ann Street
Ann Street (Manhattan)
Ann Street is a 3-block long street located in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan just south of City Hall.- History :-Early history:...

 and passageway to Beekman Street and Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...

 to the far north. This passageway was out of system and more than one block long.

Both this station and Broad Street
Broad Street (BMT Nassau Street Line)
Broad Street is a station on the BMT Nassau Street Line of the New York City Subway located at the intersection of Broad and Wall Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan....

 are normally closed on weekends (the only two stations in the entire system that do not operate full-time
24/7
24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to a business or service available at all times without interruption...

), when the J train terminates at the next station north, Chambers Street. However, due to the line's proximity to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, passengers can connect to the 4
4 (New York City Subway service)
The 4 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored green on station signs, route signs, and the official subway map, since it uses the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan....

 and 5
5 (New York City Subway service)
The 5 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway. It is colored green on station signs, route signs, and the official subway map, since it uses IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan....

 trains at Brooklyn Bridge for service south of Chambers Street while Fulton and Broad Streets are closed on weekends, since they are both in walking distance.

IND Eighth Avenue Line platform

Fulton Street (formerly Broadway – Nassau Street) on the IND Eighth Avenue Line has two tracks and one island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

. The station is located approximately sixty feet below ground level. Similar to other stations near it, Fulton Street utilizes a tube station design because of its depth. The tile on this station is colored purple, with wall tiles reading "FULTON". An alternating pattern of "BWAY" and "NASSAU" was the original tiling until recently. The station adopted the "Fulton Street" name in December 2010 to become unified with the other platforms in the station complex. Overhead and column signage carry the new name.

There are two sets of artwork here. One is the Marine Grill Murals, from Hotel McAlpin, located at the William Street entrance (Originally on the mezzanine) and the other is Nancy Holt's Astral Grating, also on the mezzanine.

Notable places nearby

  • St. Paul's Chapel
  • Brooklyn Bridge
    Brooklyn Bridge
    The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK