Jay Street–MetroTech station
The Jay Street–MetroTech station is a New York City Subway station complex on the IND Fulton Street, IND Culver, and BMT Fourth Avenue lines. The complex is located in the vicinity of MetroTech Center (near Jay and Willoughby Streets) in Downtown Brooklyn. It is served by the A, F, and R trains at all times; the C train at all times except late nights; the N train during late nights only; and a few rush-hour W and <F> trains in the peak direction.
The complex consists of two distinct, perpendicular stations. The Jay Street–Borough Hall station was built by the Independent Subway System (IND) in 1933, while the Lawrence Street–MetroTech station was built by the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) in 1924. Despite being one block away from each other, the two stations were not connected for 77 years. As part of a station renovation completed in 2010, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) built a passageway to connect the two stations and made the complex fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Both stations also contain "money train" platforms, which were formerly used to deliver MTA token revenue to neighboring 370 Jay Street.
History[edit]
BMT station[edit]
The Dual Contracts were formalized in March 1913, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT). The Dual Contracts included the construction of the Montague Street Tunnel, which connected the Broadway Line in Manhattan with the Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn at DeKalb Avenue station.[5] Originally, the only station on the Montague Street Tunnel in Brooklyn was to have been at Court Street.[6] After the contract was approved for the Montague Street Tunnel and the associated subway line, the planners realized there should have been a station at Lawrence Street.[7] In 1916, local business owners proposed an additional station at Lawrence and Willoughby Streets.[7][8] Supporters of the plan said the distance from the south end of the Court Street station to the north end of the DeKalb Avenue station was 3,200 feet (980 m) apart, much longer than comparable stations on the IRT and BRT in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.[8] The original contract was modified in July 1917, and a provision for the station was added.[9]
On May 16, 1918, the New York Public Service Commission approved a report by the Chief Engineer requesting that work on the construction of the station stop due to a wartime shortage of materials and men due to World War I. Only one-ninth of the labor estimated to be required to allow the construction of the station to be completed along with the rest of the line was available. With this reduced labor force, work on this station could not be completed before July 1919, and work on the Court Street station could not be finished before April 1919, following the completion of the Montague Street Tunnel. It was decided to postpone work to complete this station, and use the labor force working on this station and concrete material intended to be used at the station to complete work on the Court Street station, accelerating the estimated completion of that station to January 1919, allowing service through the tunnel to operate in early 1919 as opposed to late 1919.[10] Construction stopped on May 18, when about half the station was completed. Service running through the Montague Tunnel and this station began on August 1, 1920, with the station being constructed alongside in-service trains.[9] The line was called the Montague Street Tunnel Line.[11]
Construction resumed on May 18, 1922. The scope of work included excavation from the street to provide an entrance, the construction of an island platform between the two cast iron-lined tunnels covered by a steel and concrete roof, and the construction of a passageway, mezzanine and entrances. On June 11, 1924, the Lawrence Street station opened[9] with the Lawrence Street entrances; the Bridge Street entrances opened later.[12]
On March 29, 1993, Lawrence Street was renamed Lawrence Street–MetroTech to celebrate the revival of Downtown Brooklyn with the opening of the MetroTech complex. In response to increased ridership at the station from traffic MetroTech generated, new directional signs were installed, a wall that blocked the view of the token booth clerk was removed to improve security, a part-time token booth was added, and lighting was upgraded.[13]
IND station[edit]
New York City mayor John Francis Hylan's original plans for the Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over 100 miles (160 km) of new lines and taking over nearly 100 miles (160 km) of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and BMT.[14][15] On December 9, 1924, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) gave preliminary approval for the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line.[16] This line consisted of a corridor connecting Inwood, Manhattan, to Downtown Brooklyn, running largely under Eighth Avenue but also paralleling Greenwich Avenue and Sixth Avenue in Lower Manhattan.[16][17] An additional line, the IND Sixth Avenue Line, was approved in 1925, running from Midtown Manhattan underneath Sixth Avenue, Houston Street, Essex Street, and the Rutgers Street Tunnel to Downtown Brooklyn.[18] By July 1927, the BOT had finalized its plans for new IND lines in Brooklyn. The Eighth Avenue Line was to continue into eastern Brooklyn as the Fulton Street Line, while the Sixth Avenue Line was to continue to South Brooklyn as the Smith Street (later Culver) Line. The lines were to intersect under Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn.[19]
The Jay Street–Borough Hall station was part of a three-stop extension of the IND Eighth Avenue Line from Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan.[20][21][22] Construction of the extension began in June 1928.[22] The extension opened to Jay Street on February 1, 1933.[20][23] The outer tracks first saw service on March 20, 1933, when the IND Culver Line opened.[24][25][26] The IND Sixth Avenue Line to West Fourth Street–Washington Square opened on April 9, 1936,[27] and the Fulton Street Line to Rockaway Avenue opened the same day.[28]
Until 1969, a free transfer was available to/from the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line at Bridge–Jay Streets and also issued at stations from Sumner Avenue on south. When the Myrtle Avenue Line south of Myrtle Avenue closed, the transfer was issued to the B54 bus, which ran along the former route.[29] Today, the MetroCard provides free transfer between bus and subway throughout the system.[30]
Jay Street–MetroTech 
Demolition in progress
Column and sign on the IND platform, prior to renovation
Jay Street–MetroTech 
2
June 11, 1924[9]
ADA-accessible (accessible entrance only provided at 370 Jay Street; entrance at the southeast corner of Willoughby and Bridge Streets is not accessible)
Yes
Lawrence Street–MetroTech (1993–2010)
Lawrence Street (1924–1993)
Exit-only escalator from the BMT platform, permanently closed and removed
Inside the BMT station; exit-only on the left (permanently closed) and main entrance on the right
Entrance from street
Station Reporter:
The Subway Nut:
Google Maps Street View