Comments on: Twenty years later, an oft-ignored entrance remains closed

By: Glen Wood

Glen Wood — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:38:29 +0000

“Funny that we’re going from talking about closing entrances for safety reasons to talking about opening entrances for safety reasons.”

Definalty a case of ironic justice for sure. Times have sure changed just as the NY neighborhoods have.
I am over at the Bamford/ now and some re-opened exits could make my running about NY a heck of alot easier.

@Chris: Totally on point about 14th street!!! I am surprised we don’t have more bad accidents there just based on pure volume and the NY rush.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:32:27 +0000

I’m thinking that A and 14th would be the number one spot in Manhattan for a new entrance. It would help serve a very under-served area of Alphabet City by cutting down the walk to the subway by a rather large block, and it would, as Chris notes, alleviate overtaxing the entrance/exit at 14th and 1st. Who has the rights to the above-ground properties and what would need to be cleared is an entirely different story.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:15:18 +0000

@Marc Shepard: I agree that Kid Twist’s example would be expensive, but given the influx of passengers in that station every morning and evening, I think it’s more of a safety issue at 14th St. & Avenue A. When the platform is packed with people during rush hour with only one stairway to the street, I can’t help but worry about how disastrous an evacuation would be.

Funny that we’re going from talking about closing entrances for safety reasons to talking about opening entrances for safety reasons.

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:05:21 +0000

I also think they should look into building additional entrances to some existing stations. It’d be a relatively low-cost way to bring the subway closer to where people now work and live (as opposed to new lines). One spot that comes to mind is the east end of the First Avenue station on the L train, near Avenue A.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds, because there are almost always utilities and other infrastructure that need to be moved. There certainly are a lot of single-entrance stations where a second entrance would be beneficial, but I don’t see this happening, except at extremely busy stations where customer traffic requires it.

But where the entrance already exists, and is merely closed off, the chances are better.

By: Kid Twist

Kid Twist — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:19:33 +0000

In the high-crime, pre-Metrocard days, it made safety sense and budget sense to close secondary entrances. Now, with crime down and the advent of Metrocard vending machines, I agree that, yes, it would be a good idea to reopen some of these.

That stretch of Eighth Avenue in the upper Forties and lower Fifties used to be the armpit of Times Square. Now, there are tall apartment buildings sprouting every couple of blocks. NYC Transit should definitely consider reopening the entrance and the stairs down to the Queens line below.

By: ScottE

ScottE — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:05:07 +0000

If I recall, that same station has some closed staircases from the upper (local) platform to the lower (express) platform — at least on the northbound side. You can see the box built around the former staircase on both levels. They were apparantly closed because of crime, though I don’t know if it is this specific stabbing incident or crime in general. Criminals would commit their act, then run down the stairs and hop on a train. Now, the only way between platforms is via the wide-open area where the station attendant sits.

The costs of even minor station work is staggering, so I don’t see this opening as a regular station entrance again anytime soon (you need to add High turnstiles and MetroCard machines, which may not have been there when it was closed), but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was changed to an Exit-Only. In these days of increased security, you need plenty of exits to evacuate a station quickly in case of an emergency.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:44:15 +0000

You just want the K to run again so you can buy the little MTA themed railroad cars and spell your name

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:34:03 +0000

You know, there are tons of closed subway entrances and exits that could be re-opened with very little cost or effort. I haven’t checked it out for myself, but I believe there are a lot of them along the G line. Several of the stations along Central Park West have closed entrances too.

A lot of these were closed in the 1980s when the MTA was justifiably concerned about crime in the subways. The thinking was that if they couldn’t monitor it adequately, they might as well just close it altogether. The crime situation has changed, and by now I think these entrances could be safely re-opened.

A lot of passageways were closed, too, such as the link under 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, the link under Sixth Avenue between 34th and 42nd Streets, and the link under 34th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The latter provided (among other things) an underground connection to PATH from Penn Station.