Utica Avenue is a major avenue in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. It is one of several named for the city of Utica in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. It runs north–south and occupies the position of East 50th Street in the Brooklyn street grid, with East 49th Street to its west and East 51st Street to its east for most of its path. The south end of Utica Avenue is at

Flatbush Avenue Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to the Ro ...

; its north end is at Fulton Street, beyond which it is continued by Malcolm X Boulevard (formerly Reid Avenue) in Bedford–Stuyvesant. Malcolm X Boulevard continues to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, where it terminates on Broadway between Lawton Street and Hart Street. The avenue runs primarily through the neighborhoods of Flatlands, Flatbush, and Crown Heights, intersecting with other main streets such as

Flatlands Avenue Flatlands Avenue is a major street in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It runs approximately east-west, from Avenue N and East 35th Street in Flatlands in the west to Forbell Street, east of Fountain Avenue in East New York, near the Brookl ...

, Kings Highway, and

Linden Boulevard Linden Boulevard is a boulevard in New York City. It starts off at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn as a one-way street to Caton Avenue, where it becomes a two-way boulevard, and stretches through both Brooklyn and Queens. This boulevard, especia ...

. Utica Avenue is a four-lane avenue throughout its entire stretch, and an important commercial street.

Public transportation

Utica Avenue is served by the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

IRT Eastern Parkway Line The Eastern Parkway Line is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn south along Flatbush Avenue and east along Eastern Parkway to Crown Heights. After passing Utica Avenue, the line ...

() at the

Crown Heights–Utica Avenue station The Crown Heights–Utica Avenue station is an express station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line of the New York City Subway. Located under Eastern Parkway near Utica Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, it is served by the 4 train at all times a ...

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...

and by the IND Fulton Street Line () at the

Utica Avenue station The Utica Avenue station is an express station on the IND Fulton Street Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Utica Avenue and Fulton Street in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, it is served by the A train at all times and the C trai ...

on Fulton Street. It is also served by the B46 and B46 SBS bus lines. The southbound B17 uses Utica Avenue between

and Remsen Avenue.

Proposed subway extension

Many proposals have been made for a subway under Utica Avenue, beginning as early as 1919. These proposals include a line suggested in 1929 as part of the

IND Second System Since the opening of the original New York City Subway line in 1904, and throughout the subway's history, various official and planning agencies have proposed numerous extensions to the subway system. The first major expansion of the subway s ...

, and in 1968 under the

Program for Action Metropolitan Transportation: A Program for Action, also known as simply the Program for Action, the Grand Design, or the New Routes Program, was a proposal in the mid-1960s for a large expansion of mass transit in New York City, created under t ...

. In April 2015, New York City Mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

announced a new plan for building a subway line under Utica Avenue as a branch of the

, near

Kings Plaza Kings Plaza (officially the Kings Plaza Shopping Center) is a shopping center within the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Opened in September 1970, it is located at the southeast corner of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue ...

. The MTA Board allocated $5 million for a feasibility study, the Utica Avenue Subway Extension Study, for this proposal in the MTA's 2015–2019 Capital Program. In August 2016, it was reported that the MTA was looking into an extension of the

IRT Nostrand Avenue Line The IRT Nostrand Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the A Division of the New York City Subway running under Nostrand Avenue in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is served by the train at all times and is also served by the trai ...

along Flatbush Avenue to Marine Park, which would allow trains to serve Kings Plaza. Planning on the Utica Avenue Line stalled because it was no longer viewed as a priority by the MTA. However, planning resumed in April 2019 when New York City Transit joined city agencies in launching the Utica Avenue Transit Improvement Study. The study will look into a subway extension, improved bus rapid transit, and a new light rail line. On April 8, 2019, the MTA started to meet with local officials and survey local residents. Since the study occurred concurrently with the redesign of Brooklyn bus routes, the MTA decided to prioritize the Utica Avenue transit study.

References

Streets in Brooklyn {{NYC-road-stub