Background Context Transportation to the area was first provided in 1889 with the establishment of the
39th Street Ferry, which connected the area to Manhattan. Between 1888 and 1893, a new elevated line was opened along
Fifth Avenue. Initially, the line terminated at 27th Street where people could transfer to horse cars. In 1892, the first trolley line was built in Brooklyn, starting at the ferry and running via Second Avenue to 65th Street, and then via Third Avenue. The Fifth Avenue Elevated was then extended to Third Avenue and 65th Street. A building boom in South Brooklyn started in about 1902 and 1903. Thousands of people started coming to the area from Manhattan and from other places. In 1905 and 1906 realty values increased by about 100 percent, and land values increased. This growth was spurred by the promise of improved transportation access. The improved transportation access transformed the community from an isolated farm community to a center of industrial and commercial life. On April 10, 1905, a citizens' committee was created to aid the creation of the subway line. In 1906, the plan for the Fourth Avenue subway included a spur via 86th Street running through
Dyker Heights and
Bensonhurst. At this time the spur was not authorized, but at the time it was viewed as a necessary part of the transportation plan for the area. The line was planned as a four-track line from Dean Street to Fort Hamilton, before being fed by a subway line going under the
East River, and by a line over the
Manhattan Bridge. An additional two-track spur was to begin at 37th Street before running under private property and 38th Street, before connecting with the
South Brooklyn Railway. An additional two-track spur would branch off between 63rd and 64th Streets before connecting with the
Sea Beach Railway. South of 65th Street the main line was planned to continue as a four-track line to 100th Street. Another proposal for a branch line was for a subway via New Utrecht Avenue. The line, consisting of four tracks, would have branched off at 40th Street before turning under New Utrecht Avenue and 86th Street to a point between 23rd and 24th Avenues. From there the line would have become an elevated line running to Coney Island. A spur of the Fourth Avenue line via 86th Street would have merged in here. On December 7, 1906, the Board of Estimate recommended that two bids be let: one for the construction of the line, and one for the construction, equipment, and operation of the line. A spur to Coney Island was added to the plan after the persistency of Frank Hudson. On May 31, 1907, the Rapid Transit Commission requested that the Board of Estimate rescind the above resolution so that bids of construction alone might be asked for, and it authorized the preparation of the plans and contracts. On June 4, 1907, a resolution was passed by the Board of Estimate that authorized the Rapid Transit Commission that rescinded the resolution and authorized the Rapid Transit Commission to let out bids of construction only. On June 27, 1907, the Rapid Transit Commission approved the plans and contracts with the exception of the section between Ashland Place and Fulton Street to Sackett Street and Fourth Avenue. This resolution was defeated, and the main resolution failed to get a two-thirds majority. Afterwards, Metz procured an injunction that restrained the Board from acting until the
debt limit was established: this blocked any immediate action. After hearings, General Tracy announced that the project was $150,000,000 within the debt limit, and
Mayor George McClellan and Controller Metz joined with their colleagues to vote unanimously in favor of the Fourth Avenue subway line on March 27, 1908. Groundbreaking for the first section of the subway, between
DeKalb Avenue and 43rd Street (ending at
36th Street), took place on November 13, 1909, at
DeKalb Avenue and
Flatbush Avenue, after the plans and surveys for the line were completed. This section was completed in 1916. The lower section of the line was constructed along with several branch lines, which replaced former surface railroads. These lines are the
BMT West End Line splitting south of 36th Street, and the
BMT Sea Beach Line leaving south of
59th Street. On January 24, 1913, construction begun on Route 11B2, the section between 61st Street and 89th Street. This section was built as a two-track structure under the west side of Fourth Avenue with plans for two future tracks on the east side of the street. The bridge across the
Long Island Rail Road's
Bay Ridge Branch, but under Fourth Avenue, was built for four tracks, but only the space for the two west tracks were ever used. The 86th Street station was designed for eventual conversion into a four-track, two island platform express station. If the two additional tracks were built, the east platform on all local stops south of 59th Street would be removed. Construction was completed on this section in 1915. A trial trip that ran earlier in the day ripped a piece off of the platform at DeKalb Avenue as it was too broad. At this time, the line was scheduled to be inaugurated with a ceremonial trip on June 19, before being opened to the public on June 21. However, the opening was delayed a day to June 22, 1915, when the line opened from the Manhattan Bridge through to the Sea Beach Line. The ceremonial trip took place three days prior. Initially, service only ran via the
Nassau Loop tracks to
Chambers Street as the new subway under
Broadway was not yet open. Construction on the initial portion of the line cost about $30 million. Prior to the line's opening, the line was expected to not be open until around July 4 due to problems with the signaling system. One major change to the line's construction was completed: the conversion of
DeKalb Avenue to an express station. Originally, DeKalb Avenue was going to be a local station. However, during the middle of construction, it was changed to an express station and track crossovers had to be installed. The reasoning for this is due to changes required by the Dual Contracts. An additional line, the Whitehall–Montague Street route, was to be built connecting the Broadway Line in Manhattan and the Fourth Avenue subway under the Flatbush Avenue Extension to the west of the DeKalb Avenue station. By making the station express, express trains that would be operated through the Montague Street line could stop at the station. Crossovers connecting the express and local tracks would allow for this. despite being technically complete, since the stations were being used by a contractor to haul dirt out. The stations opened on September 22, 1915.
Expansion The line opened from
59th Street to
86th Street on January 15, 1916. Trains from 86th Street ran to Chambers Street in Manhattan via the Fourth Avenue Line local tracks. On this date, the express tracks opened for service, with Sea Beach Line trains running express between 59th Street and Chambers Street at all times except late nights, when they ran local. station (now Jay Street–MetroTech) was built after that section of the line had already been completed. Even though the contract was approved for the
Montague Street Tunnel, and the subway line connecting to it, in 1916, it was decided to add an
infill station at
Lawrence Street and Willoughby Street. In 1917, the original contract was modified and a provision for the station was added. Work started in October 1917, but construction halted on May 18, 1918, because of a wartime shortage of materials and men due to
World War I, and about half the station was completed. Service running through the Montague Tunnel and this station began on August 1, 1920, while the station was being construction alongside in-service trains. Construction resumed on May 18, 1922, and entailed the construction of an island platform between the two cast iron-lined tunnels, a mezzanine, and a station entrance, which required excavation from the street. On June 11, 1924, the Lawrence Street station opened A special train to
Prospect Park operated for the station's opening. A unique feature at the west end of the station was a folding platform edge that was necessary to clear a crossover switch that was partially underneath the platform. On September 12, 1922, a meeting was held by the Transit Commission to determine whether a stop at 91st Street should be included as part of the planned extension. Ultimately, no station was built at 91st Street. At the meeting it was decided that money for an additional station in between 86th Street and the new terminal at 95th Street would be better spent on an extensive terminal with entrances at 93rd, 94th, and 95th Streets. On November 15, 1922, a report by the Chief Engineer recommended changing the plans of the Fourth Avenue Extension to provide for a third track between the 86th Street and 95th Street stations for train storage. The change was approved by the Transit Commission on November 22. Other extensions were also planned in 1922: a branch of the line running via 86th Street to 18th Avenue to connect with the New Utrecht Line to Coney Island, Route 19, and the future Tenth Avenue subway, and a branch of the line at 67th Street heading to Staten Island, Route 20. On December 28, 1922, the Transit Commission announced that it had awarded the contract for the construction of a half-mile extension of the Fourth Avenue Line, Contract 11B, to T. A. Gillespie Company for $1.5 million. However, as the Board of Estimate failed to take action upon it, the contractor withdrew its bid on March 7, 1923. The Transit Commission blamed the Board of Estimate for delays in the awarding of the contract; the Commission said that the city would suffer a substantial loss due to increased construction costs, and because the contract that was given was "highly advantageous to the city." As part of Contract 11B, the extension was built with two tracks, with the exception of a short three-track stretch just north of the terminal at 95th Street. The extension was to be built with a provision to extend the line to Staten Island. As a result of a motion made by Commissioner LeRoy Harkness in front of the Transit Commission, the contract was set to be put back up for bid. On November 2, 1923, the Board of Estimate approved the contract for the line with T. A. Gillespie Company, the same contractor that had bid on the project earlier, but withdrew. The Transit Commission, due to the delay of the project, gave orders on November 3 to speed up the completion of the project. Construction began on December 17, 1923. Later that month, on February 28, the Board made public the bids for the contract to complete the
95th Street terminal station. The station, as part of the contract, was built with two tracks, and was built to be 530 feet long to accommodate eight-car trains. A signal and switch tower, and a dispatcher's office was also built at the station. On April 22, 1925, it was announced that $200,000 had been appropriated by the BMT to pay for signal equipment, station control and lighting, drainage and ventilating equipment, and for telephone cables. The final extension to 95th Street, Route 18, opened on October 31, 1925. In February 1928, bids were received by the BOT on a project to remove kiosk subway entrances from the median of Fourth Avenue and to relocate them to the sidewalk to improve safety for transit riders. As part of the project, the station entrances at Pacific Street, along with at 36th Street and 59th Street, would be relocated. In addition, malls between 44th Street and 47th Street would be reduced in width, and the malls from 61st Street to 58th Street, and from 36th Street to Atlantic Avenue would be removed. Mezzanines would be constructed to allow riders to cross Fourth Avenue below street level. Work would be completed within six months. The line was planned to be connected via one of two tunnels to Staten Island and to
Staten Island Rapid Transit. The first would be in Bay Ridge, south of the 59th Street station, connecting to both SIRT branches near the
Tompkinsville station. The other would have been south of 95th Street in
Fort Hamilton, following the current routing of the
Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge. Construction on the first plan, known as the
Staten Island Tunnel was started in 1923 but soon halted. Later proposals called for connecting the line and the SIRT via the Verrazano Bridge, though the bridge was built with no railroad provisions. The SIRT ordered new train cars, the
ME-1s, that were built to be compatible with operation over the BMT system, and as such, they strongly resembled the BMT's
AB Standard.
Later years Rebuilding DeKalb Avenue junction The
DeKalb Avenue Junction is located to the north and south of the DeKalb Avenue station, and it is located at the juncture of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line and the
BMT Brighton Line on the south and the four Manhattan Bridge tracks and Montague Tunnel tracks on the north. In 1927, platform extensions were built at DeKalb Avenue in order to allow for longer trains. The extensions were built into a curve south of the station–they were closed in 1960 when they were replaced by straight extensions to the north. DeKalb Avenue received a new mezzanine with escalators at the north end of the station. From this mezzanine exits were built on both side of the Flatbush Avenue Extension between Fleet Street and Willoughby Street. All switches immediately north of the station were eliminated. That station's northbound platform remains visible from passing trains, but the southbound platform was demolished to accommodate the new flying junction that replaced the diamond crossover. It was estimated that the reconstruction of the junction increased the junction's train capacity by 25%. On October 25, 1962, Mayor
Robert F. Wagner Jr. requested that the
New York City Board of Estimate approve an expenditure of $724,572 for the reconstruction of subway structures and entrances along the Fourth Avenue Line in order to accommodate the widening of Fourth Avenue between 60th Street and Atlantic Avenue, which was to be accomplished by narrowing the street's sidewalks. At the time of the request, 80% of the work on the project was completed. Work had started on the project, which cost $1 million, several months earlier. The contract that the Mayor had requested approval for would have relocated vault lights, gratings, entrances and exits at 56th Street and 49th Street, and at the 45th Street, 53rd Street and 59th Street stations.
Contemporary projects Formerly, the Fourth Avenue Line served trains from the
BMT Culver Line, which connected to the
36th Street station via the lower level of the
Ninth Avenue station south of
Green-Wood Cemetery from a now-demolished elevated structure. The barest stub of the old elevated line is still visible at
Ditmas Avenue. In January 2017, the MTA revealed plans to rehabilitate the structure of the tunnel above the express tracks between 36th and 59th Streets. The structure had become corroded because resurfacing of Fourth Avenue in the 2010s caused rainwater to seep into the structure rather into the sewage system. Work will also be done between
Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center and 36th Streets. Construction started in May 2017, and will end in March 2020. As a result, starting July 30, 2018, N trains ran local along that section at all times. On July 29, 2019, N trains resumed running express in this section. Under the 2015–2019
MTA Capital Plan's
Enhanced Station Initiative, three stations on the line—Prospect Avenue, 53rd Street, and Bay Ridge Avenue—were selected to undergo a complete overhaul. All three stations would be entirely closed for up to 6 months in order to speed up renovations, unlike in previous station renovations conducted by the MTA, where parts of the stations would have been closed and renovated piece-by-piece. Updates included cellular service, Wi-Fi, USB charging stations, interactive service advisories and maps, improved signage, and improved station lighting. From January to May 2016,
Grimshaw Architects worked on a design for the stations' renovation, with
Arup Group acting as a consultant. The award for Package 1 of the renovations, which covers renovations at the three stations, was awarded on November 30, 2016. The stations were closed on a staggered schedule from March to June 2017 for these renovations, with 53rd Street closing first, followed by Bay Ridge Avenue and Prospect Avenue. They were planned to reopen on a staggered schedule from September to December 2017. followed by Bay Ridge Avenue a month later on October 13. Prospect Avenue, the last of the three stations to be renovated, reopened a month ahead of schedule on November 2, 2017. The 2015–2019 Capital Program also called for several stations to be renovated with elevators to bring them into compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. , only three stations on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line were ADA-accessible: Jay Street–MetroTech, DeKalb Avenue, and Atlantic–Barclays; all of these stops were in Downtown Brooklyn. The Capital Program would bring ADA-accessibility to at least two additional stations,
59th Street and
86th Street, with possible elevator installations in at least four other stations:
Union Street,
36th Street,
77th Street, and
Bay Ridge–95th Street. == Station listing ==