Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues station


Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues is a New York City Subway station complex formed by the intersecting stations of the BMT Canarsie Line and the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line, served by the L and M trains at all times. It is located at Myrtle Avenue and Wyckoff Avenue in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn and the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens. The complex is connected by a set of stairs and several elevators and escalators between the elevated and underground levels. The station was renovated completely from 2004 to 2008.
Since many buses stop here, the MTA opened the Ridgewood Intermodal Terminal on August 20, 2010. Palmetto Street was shuttered to all traffic except for buses in order for the B26, B52, B54, Q55, and Q58 buses to terminate closer together, and to increase accessibility and convenience for bus, elevated, and subway transfers. However, neither the elevated BMT Myrtle Avenue Line nor the underground BMT Canarsie Line terminate here, merely the bus lines, excluding the B13, which passes through the terminal.

Station layout

The stations are connected via several sets of stairs, elevators, and escalators. There is an underground, lower mezzanine for the Canarsie Line, and an aboveground, upper mezzanine for the Myrtle Avenue Line. The main fare control is at street level, through the station house, though another fare control exists on the lower mezzanine for the Canarsie Line platform only. There are three elevators: one from the Canarsie Line to the lower mezzanine; one from the lower mezzanine to street level and the upper mezzanine; and one from the upper mezzanine to the Myrtle Avenue Line. There are also escalators from the lower to the upper mezzanine. The lower mezzanine is full-length, but the upper mezzanine consists of little more than a landing for the stairs, escalators, and elevators below the middle of the Myrtle Avenue Line platform.
Beginning in 2004, the station underwent rehabilitation that included structural steel repairs and significant expansion. The work, completed by Judlau Contracting in May 2008, cost $51 million. From 2000 to 2008, Dattner Architects had a joint venture with Parsons Brinckerhoff to build the station's new station building. On April 19, 2007, the newly expanded main station building at the triangle of Myrtle, Gates and Wyckoff Avenues was formally opened. Improvements to the complex included lighting upgrades, stairway reconfigurations, new interior finishes, and a new communication system. In the fall of 2007, the station became ADA-accessible as three new elevators were put into service. A glass-enclosed rotunda adorns the front of the building.
The new headhouse's ceiling is capped by a mosaic, "From Earth to Sky" by Cadence Giersbach. The artwork was completed under the MTA Arts & Design program.

Exits

The Myrtle Avenue Line's only entrance/exit is through the station house. The Canarsie Line has four additional exits; one on the western corner of Wyckoff and Gates Avenues; two on the northern corner of Wyckoff Avenue and Palmetto Street; and one at the southeastern corner of Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenues.

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line platforms

Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues on the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line is an elevated station located entirely in Brooklyn. At the time of its opening on December 19, 1889, it had a single island platform with two tracks. Originally, the line stub ended at the original Wyckoff station which was past the present curve that is just east of this station. It was subsequently extended in 1906 to the street level right-of-way to Metropolitan Avenue, and again in the 1910s during the Dual Contracts era onto the present elevated structure.
On July 29, 1914, the station was reconfigured to two island platforms to accommodate a new express track to Broadway – Myrtle Avenue. When the elevated was rebuilt to three tracks, the BMT Canarsie Line was still planned to be on an elevated line between Montrose Avenue and Broadway Junction. The express track was in anticipation of a potentially different service pattern and the anticipation of a Canarsie Line on Wyckoff Avenue that would have had track connections just east of this station between the two lines.
The tower that existed east of this station was also built in anticipation of a junction between this line and an elevated line above Wyckoff Avenue. The tower never had an interlocking machine installed, and was used as an office instead.
By 1946, the center track was removed, and the two platforms were joined together by a wooden walkway near the station's two staircases, which was later replaced by a concrete connection. Railings were installed where the center track right of way remained exposed. In the 2000s station reconstruction, the double staircases were replaced with a single wide staircase. This staircase, located toward the north end of the station, is the station's only connection to the rest of the complex.

BMT Canarsie Line platform

Myrtle–Wyckoff Avenues on the BMT Canarsie Line is an underground station, was opened on July 14, 1928, and has two tracks with an island platform. A mosaic band is set at eye level, rather than high up on the wall, with brick red, yellow, tan and light blue offset by indigo and maroon. Unlike other Canarsie Line island platform stations, there are no visible girders in the walls. The ceiling is also lower than those at the other island platform stations. For most of the distance between here and Wilson Avenue, the Canarsie-bound side is located in Brooklyn, while the Manhattan-bound side is in Queens.
South of this station there is a third track for layups or storage, which is also used for trains terminating here.

Ridgewood Intermodal Terminal

Adjacent to this station is the Ridgewood Intermodal Terminal, a major central bus station that opened on August 20, 2010, at a cost of $4.5 million. Located on Palmetto Street, the facility is bordered on the south by the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenues and on the north by St. Nicholas Avenue. Palmetto Street is closed to all traffic except for NYC Transit buses and deliveries.
The terminal features reconstructed roadway and sidewalks on Palmetto Street between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas Avenues. Concrete bus pads are on the roadway along both sides of Palmetto Street for the length of the block. Sidewalk canopies suspended from the elevated structure of the Myrtle Avenue Line on both sides of Palmetto Street provide shelter from inclement weather. Other features include sidewalk benches and new lighting to improve the waiting environment for customers, new bus stop signage, bus holding lights linked to the Canarsie Line, and a new dispatcher's booth for NYC Transit employees.
The six NYC Transit bus lines served in this terminal now provide easier transfers to the subway and between the bus routes.