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New York City Subway line

The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express during the day and local at night. During rush hours, select W trains also serve the line. Northbound D and N trains run local along the line after 6:45 p. m. during weekdays as well. The line was originally built by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) and is now internally operated as part of the New York City Subway's B Division. The fully underground line starts as a two track line in Downtown Brooklyn west of Court Street, connecting to the BMT Broadway Line and BMT Nassau Street Line in Manhattan via the Montague Street Tunnel under the East River. It travels east under Montague and Willoughby Streets to DeKalb Avenue, where it then turns southeast under Flatbush Avenue. At DeKalb Avenue, the express tracks, which continue from the Manhattan Bridge to the northwest, split off from the BMT Brighton Line and join the Fourth Avenue Line. At Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center, the line curves southwest under Fourth Avenue to the end of the line at Bay Ridge–95th Street. Going south from Atlantic Avenue, the BMT West End Line splits from both the local and express tracks south of 36th Street, while the express tracks continue as the BMT Sea Beach Line south of 59th Street. Fourth Avenue never had a streetcar line or elevated railway due to the provisions of the assessment charged to neighboring property owners when the street was widened. Construction of the line was only undertaken because of the efforts of the local communities. After the line was opened, development resulting from the line's construction transformed communities such as Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, Bay Ridge, and Sunset Park. One station, Myrtle Avenue, was abandoned in 1956 as part of the reconfiguration of the busy DeKalb Avenue Junction.

Coming south from DeKalb Avenue and off of Fulton Street, the four track line runs entirely under Fourth Avenue to just past 59th Street. South of 36th Street, the West End Line, formerly the New Utrecht Avenue elevated line, branches off eastward, running to its terminus at Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue. At 64th Street, after the Sea Beach Line branches off eastward towards Coney Island via an open cut right of way, the line becomes two tracked and continues under Fourth Avenue to its terminus at Bay Ridge–95th Street. Between 86th Street and 95th Street there is a third track available for train storage. While this section of the line was built with two tracks, there are provisions to add two additional express tracks between 59th and 85th Streets if the need ever arises. The line's northernmost section serves Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn. The central section serves Park Slope east of Fourth Avenue and north of Prospect Expressway; Boerum Hill and Gowanus west of Fourth Avenue and north of Prospect Expressway; and Sunset Park to the south of Prospect Expressway. The southernmost section serves the communities of Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton.

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. 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 Verrazano 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.

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.

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. as of January 2019, 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.