FLUSHING’S NEW BROADWAY STATION

In September 2007 FNY, on the Lullaby of Broadway Slice, chronicled the impending demolition and restoration of the Broadway (Flushing) Long Island Rail Road station. Between 1993 (preceding that actually) and 2007, the MTA had allowed the station to become a horror show of crumbling platforms and fences as well as urine-soaked waiting sheds. Things got so bad that for a few years the MTA closed off the western end of the Manhattan-bound station, with only some of the trains making the platform.

By June 2008, the LIRR had completed about 80% of the reconstruction, which was virtually an entire rebuild. As you will see the new handicapped-access ramp is not yet done. A deep trench has been dug in the spot where the old parking spaces used to be on the north side of the station; I don’t yet know what is in store there.

First, a pair of mid-2007 views showing just how far the overall deterioration of the station had progressed. It had in fact reached dangerous levels and injuries to LIRR passengers, which the agency calls customers, had become a possibility.

Above: Beginning in 2006 the LIRR completely removed the ancient station platform, which was originally built in 1913 when the railroad, at this point, was placed on an embankment and Northern Boulevard and 162nd Street were depressed to allow traffic to run under the railroad.

At this time, trains stopped at latterday platform extensions which were built on the eastern end of the station in the late 20th Century.

Below: By 2008 Broadway’s new westbound platform was completed. The stationhouse was renovated in 2003, but was unusable during the year-and-a-half it took to rebuild the platform.

For several months the heavy concrete entrance to the station underpass (left) was all that was left of the original 1913 construction. By mid-2008, a new sideways-facing staircase leading to the underpass had been finished.

The LIRR maintained precedent by chiseling in the date of completion. The “1913” can be found on the underpass facing south as you enter from Depot Road, while the “2008” is on the new underpass stair facing Station Road on the station’s eastbound side.

The staircase at Northern Blvd. and 163rd Street is built upon solid 1913 construction, much of which remains in place. RIGHT: the new eastbound handicap access ramp. Work has yet to begin on the westbound handicap ramp. Note the new high-intensity platform lampposts.

Above: new eastbound staircase at Northern Blvd. end; below: Station Road. For whatever reason it took the staircases on the western end the longest time to open, nearly two years after conctruction began. These, of course, were the staircases your webmster used most often. I finally gave up and moved to Little Neck waiting for them to reopen. (Well, there were other factors involved in that decision.)

It took a few decades but neighborhood locals at Flushing’s Broadway finally, by the end of 2008, will have a LIRR station they can be proud of. RIGHT: original 1913 concrete forms the bedrock for the new platform.

QUEENS CRAP: Farewell to Broadway station