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Queens Blvd Express·6th Avenue-Culver Local<Broadway-Lafayette St
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Queens Blvd-6 Avenue-Myrtle Local<Broadway-Lafayette St

Broadway-Lafayette St Station is an IND express station with two island platforms for the four-track line that opened on January 1, 1936. The station is quite deep beneath the surface. The station platforms cross beneath two different subway lines and 8 tracks: the Broadway BMT (N,Q,R,W) Subway, less than a block north of the Prince Street Station, and the Lexington Avenue IRT subway where a free connection is available to the 6 train at the southern end of its platforms at Bleecker Street. The station is deep enough that the station requires two levels of mezzanines with both an upper level and lower level. The mezzanines are split into 3 different sections split apart by the 2 different (older) subway lines crossing above. The color scheme is dark blue with a blue trim line and black border with the tiled station name beneath the trim simply saying Broadway, not Lafayette. The stop received a full standard renovation in the late 1990s. In the early 2010s a new entrance/exit and free transfer were finally constructed to the Uptown 6 train at Bleecker Street. Previously from May 19, 1957 through September 25, 2012, a free transfer could be made to and from Downtown 6 trains, with no free connections to Uptown 6 trains.

Our station tour begins at the newest part of the station, the free transfer to the Uptown 6 train that opened on September 25, 2012. Here at the eastern end of each platform, at the extreme ends of both platforms, with a small gated off area on the Uptown platform since it's beyond the stopping location of any train, is a staircase and elevator, followed by an escalator on the Uptown platform only. The elevators and escalators lead directly up to the Uptown 6 platform, while the staircase reaches a small lower-level mezzanine area combining into a single staircase up to the Uptown 6 platform, these all arrive at a new on platform fare control area with streetstairs to the SE corner of Houston & Lafayette Streets and the NE corner of Houston & Mulberry Streets.

After the platforms pass under the Lexington Avenue Subway, the main section of two levels of mezzanines begin. The upper mezzanine level begins at the Downtown 6 platform (free transfer opened on May 19, 1957). There are almost immediately elevators down to each IND platform (these provide the accessible exits from both platforms), this is followed by two small fare control areas with two separate sets of turnstiles. These were High Entrance/Exit turnstiles as of 2009 and rebuilt into unstaffed regular ones as part of the 2012 station renovations. To the south is an exit with two streetstairs to the south side of Houston Street on the very short block between Crosby and Lafayette Streets. To the north is the accessible entrance from the street with an elevator to the northside of Houston Street, and a streetstair down from the NE corner of Crosby and Lafayette Streets. Next, just after the turnstiles, there is a very wide staircase down to the lower-level mezzanine, and the upper level mezzanine continues as a narrower balcony-like passageway along the southern wall, giving the lower-level mezzanine a double-height ceiling, making it feel more open. The open to the public portions of the lower-level mezzanine has 3 staircases down to each platform at regular intervals, before it ends at another wide staircase back up to the upper-level mezzanine. The upper-level mezzanine continues west, soon reaching two long staircases directly down to each platform, this is immediately followed by a bank of turnstiles, across the width of the mezzanine and streetstairs up to the NE and SE corners of Broadway and Houston Street, a full-time token booth is at this entrance. From 2016 through 2019 the SE corner streetstair was closed and has now been relocated as a privately maintained streetstair in the storefront of the newly built 606 Broadway building.

The western-most section of mezzanines (split from the rest of the mezzanines by the Broadway Line) are closed to the public and contain the Hydraulics Employee Facility. There is still some evidence of these former mezzanine areas and entrances in public view. There is a gated off staircase at the western ends of each platform visible to the public, along with a gated off staircase at the SW corner of Broadway & Houston Street, and finally a trap-door staircase at the NE corner of Mercer Street and Houston Street, this is surrounded by yellow fencing on the sidewalk so it can be opened without hurting pedestrians walking on it. There was one additional entrance that has been slabbed over that once led into the subway from the NW corner of Broadway & Mercer Streets.
Photos 1: December 30, 2003; 2-4: January 31, 2004; 5-31 on either December 28, 2008 or January 2, 2011; 32-34: August 22, 2012; 35-66: September 25, 2012; 67: March 6, 2013;

Arts For Transit: Signal Arts For Transit: Hive (Bleecker Street)

Arts For Transit at Broadway-Lafayette Street

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Concourse-Central Park West-6th Avenue-West End Express<Broadway-Lafayette St
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Queens Blvd Express·6th Avenue-Culver Local<Broadway-Lafayette St
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Queens Blvd-6 Avenue-Myrtle Local<Broadway-Lafayette St

Station Subway Lines (2004-2010)

Broadway-Lafayette St
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Station Subway Lines (2001-2004)

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Last Updated: January 30, 2022
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