61st Street–Woodside station

The 61st Street–Woodside station (announced as the Woodside–61st Street station on trains) is an express station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway located at 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. It is served by the 7 train, with additional peak-direction <7> service during rush hours.

61 Street–Woodside  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Platform view
Station statistics
Address	61st Street & Roosevelt Avenue Woodside, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Woodside
Coordinates	40°44′44.19″N 73°54′10.68″W
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Flushing Line
Services	7  (all times) <7>  (rush hours until 9:30 p.m., peak direction)​
Transit	NYCT Bus: Q32 MTA Bus: Q18, Q53 SBS, Q70 SBS LIRR: City Terminal Zone, Port Washington Branch (at Woodside)
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	3
Other information
Opened	April 21, 1917; 107 years ago (1917-04-21)
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Former/other names	Woodside–61st Street 61st Street
Traffic
2023	4,222,161[2]  9%
Rank	68 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Queensboro Plaza <7> toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards Express Junction Boulevard <7> toward Flushing–Main Street 52nd Street 7  toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards Local 69th Street 7  toward Flushing–Main Street
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Junction Boulevard to 69th Street to 52nd Street to Queensboro Plaza
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only

61st Street–Woodside opened on April 21, 1917 as Woodside, as part of an extension of the IRT Flushing Line. Following a period of neglect, it was renovated in the early 2020s.

History

Early history

The 1913 Dual Contracts called for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) to build new lines in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BRT lines compared to Brooklyn and the Bronx, since the city's Public Service Commission (PSC) wanted to alleviate subway crowding in the other two boroughs first before building in Queens, which was relatively undeveloped. The IRT Flushing Line was to be one of two Dual Contracts lines in the borough, along with the Astoria Line; it would connect Flushing and Long Island City, two of Queens' oldest settlements, to Manhattan via the Steinway Tunnel. When the majority of the line was built in the early 1910s, most of the route went through undeveloped land, and Roosevelt Avenue had not been constructed.^[3]: 47 Community leaders advocated for more Dual Contracts lines to be built in Queens to allow development there.^[4]

61st Street–Woodside opened on April 21, 1917 as Woodside, as part of an extension of the IRT Flushing Line to Alburtis Avenue (now 103rd Street–Corona Plaza). The Long Island Rail Road station predates the station, as it originally opened in 1869.

On February 29, 1928, five petitions signed with 600 names were sent to the New York State Transit Commission (NYSTC), requesting that an escalator be constructed at the station to the southeastern corner of 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue. On July 25, the NYSTC ordered the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) to install a double-width escalator from the mezzanine to that corner, similar to one at the Third Avenue entrance at Grand Central station on the same line.^[5][6] The new escalator was placed into service on December 27, 1930.^[7]

Later years

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[8][9] The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[10] The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the 7.^[11] On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT operation of the Flushing Line ended, and the line became the responsibility of the IRT.^[12] After the end of BMT/IRT dual service, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars beforehand.^[13][14] The platforms at the station were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate 11-car trains.^[15] However, nine-car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars.^[16] With the opening of the 1964 New York World's Fair, trains were lengthened to eleven cars.^[17][18]

In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.^[19] Although the adjacent LIRR station was renovated in the 1990s, the subway station remained in poor shape. By the late 2010s, the 61st Street station was in poor condition; one newspaper reported that the station had issues with falling debris, rust, and peeling paint.^[20] The escalator leading up from 61st Street to the mezzanine, which had been installed around 2000, was one of the least reliable escalators in any subway station in Queens.^[21]

As part of the 2015–2019 Capital Program, the MTA announced plans to renovate the 52nd, 61st, 69th, 82nd, 103rd and 111th Streets stations, a project that had been delayed for several years. Conditions at these stations were reported to be among the worst of all stations in the subway system.^[22] Work on the 61st Street station included ADA upgrades; track, staircase, and platform replacement; and structural and waterproofing improvements.^[23] The Manhattan-bound platform at the 61st Street–Woodside station will close for renovation starting fall 2024, followed by the closure of the Flushing-bound platform. Throughout construction, trains in both directions will continue to stop at the station, and express service will be suspended.^[24][25] A separate contract was awarded to Skanska-Railroad JV to further improve structural conditions in the station; work began in early 2023.^[26]

Station layout

3F Subway platforms	Southbound local	← toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards (52nd Street)
	Island platform
	Peak-direction express	← AM rush toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards (Queensboro Plaza) → PM rush/evenings toward Flushing–Main Street (Junction Boulevard) →
	Island platform
	Northbound local	→ toward Flushing–Main Street (69th Street) →
2F	Mezzanine	Connection between subway and LIRR, station agent, MetroCard and OMNY machines Multiple accessible entrances: Elevator at northeast corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 61st Street Ramp to westbound Port Washington Branch platform from 63rd Street and Trimble Road Ramp to eastbound Main Line platform from dead end at 62nd Street near Woodside Avenue
1F LIRR platforms	Platform C, side platform
	Track 1	←      Port Washington Branch toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Terminus)
	Track 2	→      Port Washington Branch toward Great Neck or Port Washington (Mets–Willets Point) →
	Platform B, island platform
	Track 3	←      Main Line services toward Penn Station or Grand Central Madison (Terminus)
	Track 1	←      Main Line services do not stop here →
	Track 2	←      Main Line services do not stop here →
	Track 4	→      Main Line services toward Jamaica and Points East (Forest Hills) →
	Platform A, side platform
G	Street level	Entrances/exits

This station has two island platforms and three tracks. The two outer tracks are used for the full-time 7 local service while the bidirectional center track typically is used for rush hour peak-direction <7> express service,^[27] but as of April 2023^[update] the center track is closed.^[24] There is a mezzanine located at the center, underneath the platforms, with an ADA-accessible elevator to each platform, as well as another to each Long Island Rail Road platform. The elevator from the mezzanine to the street stops at the LIRR's eastbound Main Line platform.

The station is about 48 feet (15 m) above street level, and is located above a natural depression in ground level along Roosevelt Avenue.^[5]: 549

Artwork includes John Cavanagh's Commuting/Community (1986), located near the stairway down to LIRR Track 4, and Dimitri Gerakaris's Woodside Continuum (1999), which forms part of the steel-grating fare-control separation.

Exits

Entrance and exit are provided by long stairs down to street level on the northern curb of Roosevelt Avenue at 61st Street, as well as to other nearby locations via the LIRR platforms. An ADA-compliant elevator provides access to street level at the northeast corner of 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue, while a long escalator at the southeast corner provides entrance only. The Woodside station of the Long Island Rail Road is located directly beneath the Flushing Line station; any of the three LIRR platforms can be accessed directly from the mezzanine.

References

1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
3. Raskin, Joseph B. (2013). The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System. New York, New York: Fordham University Press. doi:10.5422/fordham/9780823253692.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-82325-369-2.
4. "Move for Rapid Transit" (PDF). Newtown Register. December 2, 1909. p. 1. Retrieved September 30, 2017 – via Fultonhistory.com.
5. Proceedings of the New York State Transit Commission. New York State Transit Commission. 1928. pp. 164, 549–550.
6. The City Record (PDF). New York City. May 24, 1929. p. 4523.
7. New York (State). Transit Commission. (1930). Tenth Annual Report, 1930. Columbia University Libraries. Albany, N.Y. : J.B. Lyon Co.
8. "City Transit Unity Is Now a Reality; Title to I.R.T. Lines Passes to Municipality, Ending 19-Year Campaign". The New York Times. June 13, 1940. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
9. "Transit Unification Completed As City Takes Over I. R. T. Lines: Systems Come Under Single Control After Efforts Begun in 1921; Mayor Is Jubilant at City Hall Ceremony Recalling 1904 Celebration". New York Herald Tribune. June 13, 1940. p. 25. ProQuest 1248134780.
10. Brown, Nicole (May 17, 2019). "How did the MTA subway lines get their letter or number? NYCurious". amNewYork. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
11. Friedlander, Alex; Lonto, Arthur; Raudenbush, Henry (April 1960). "A Summary of Services on the IRT Division, NYCTA" (PDF). New York Division Bulletin. 3 (1). Electric Railroaders' Association: 2–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
12. "Direct Subway Runs To Flushing, Astoria" (PDF). The New York Times. October 15, 1949. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
13. Bennett, Charles G. (November 20, 1949). "Transit Platforms On Lines In Queens To Be Lengthened; $3,850,000 Program Outlined for Next Year to Care for Borough's Rapid Growth New Links Are To Be Built 400 More Buses to Roll Also — Bulk of Work to Be on Corona-Flushing Route Transit Program In Queens Outlined". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
14. "37 Platforms On Subways To Be Lengthened: All Stations of B. M. T. and I.R.T.in Queens Included in $5,000,000 Program". New York Herald Tribune. November 20, 1949. p. 32. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1325174459.
15. Minutes and Proceedings of the New York City Transit Authority. New York City Transit Authority. 1955. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
16. "R17s to the Flushing Line". New York Division Bulletin. 5 (6). Electric Railroaders' Association: M-8. December 1962 – via Issu.
17. "TA to Show Fair Train". Long Island Star – Journal. August 31, 1963. Retrieved August 30, 2016 – via Fulton History.
18. "A First-class Rapid Ride". Railway Age. Vol. 156, no. 21. June 1, 1964. p. 22. ProQuest 895766286.
19. Gargan, Edward A. (June 11, 1981). "AGENCY LISTS ITS 69 MOST DETERIORATED SUBWAY STATIONS". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
20. Hallum, Mark (March 14, 2019). "Things fall apart in Woodside: Neighborhood witnesses transit hub slowly decaying amid endless neglect – QNS.com". QNS.com. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
21. Kaufman, Maya (June 6, 2019). "Commuters Take Woodside's Infamous 7-Train Escalator To Task". Queens, New York Patch. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
22. Murray, Christian (November 19, 2019). "MTA To Overhaul Six Stations on the 7 Line, Currently in Design Phase". Sunnyside Post. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
23. Gannon, Michael (December 22, 2022). "Lucky 7 riders to get '23 station upgrades". Queens Chronicle. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
24. "MTA Announces Service Changes on 7 Line Beginning May 12". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. April 21, 2023. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
25. "Improving the 7 Line". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 9, 2023. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
26. Leggate, James (October 11, 2022). "Skanska-Railroad JV Wins $200M NYC Subway Station Contract". Engineering News Record. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
27. Dougherty, Peter (2006) [2002]. Tracks of the New York City Subway 2006 (3rd ed.). Dougherty. OCLC 49777633 – via Google Books.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IRT Flushing Line: 61st Street/Woodside
• nycsubway.org — Commuting/Community Artwork by John Cavanagh (1986)
• nycsubway.org — Woodside Continuum Artwork by Dimitri Gerakaris (1999)
• Station Reporter — 7 Train
• The Subway Nut — 61st Street–Woodside Pictures Archived May 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• MTA's Arts For Transit — Woodside–61st Street (IRT Flushing Line)
• 61st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Station as seen from the LIRR platforms from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View