The Third Avenue station is a station on the

BMT Canarsie Line The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is served by the ...

of 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 ...

. Located at the intersection of

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Squ ...

and East 14th Street in

East Village, Manhattan The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Village ...

, it is served by the L train at all times.

History

This station opened on June 30, 1924, as part of the 14th Street–Eastern Line station, which ran from

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

under the East River and through Williamsburg to Montrose and Bushwick Avenues.

Station layout

This station has two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platfo ...

s, which are long, and two tracks. West of the station there is a double crossover. The platforms are column-less and have the standard BMT style trim-line and name tablets. The former contains "3" tablets in standard intervals while the latter consists of "THIRD AVE" in seriffed lettering. There are also directions signs to the station's only entrances/exits saying "TO STREET" in the same style as the name tablets. Each platform has its own same-level

fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

at the extreme west ( railroad north) end. As a result, there is no free transfer between directions. This station is identical to the next one east (railroad south), First Avenue except that the fare control areas there are at a small

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

above the platforms. Third Avenue is one of only two stations along the Canarsie Line in Manhattan that does not contain a transfer to another line. The other station is the nearby First Avenue Subway station. However, a transfer station is planned to the 14th Street station of the

Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...

, as part of Phase 3 of construction from 55th Street to

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River i ...

Exits

Each platform-level fare control area has a bank of

turnstile A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a ...

s, token booth, and two street stairs apiece—one to the east side of Third Avenue and East 14th Street, the other to East 14th Street just east of Third Avenue. The stairs on the Eighth Avenue-bound side lead to the northeast corner while the ones on the Brooklyn-bound side lead to the southeast corner.

Experimental platform doors

As part of a

pilot program A pilot study, pilot project, pilot test, or pilot experiment is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...

, each platform at the Third Avenue station was supposed be refitted with 32 half-height

platform screen doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail sys ...

(PSDs) while the 14th Street Tunnel was being rebuilt from April 2019 to March 2020. This had been possible as a result of the L train's automated train operation, as well as the route's exclusive use of subway cars with four doors, which allow trains to stop at the same part of the platform every time. The MTA would have used the results of the pilot in order to determine the feasibility of adding such doors citywide. The PSDs would have been approximately high and would have been coordinated with the location of the subway car doors when a train was in the station. To ensure that the subway car is precisely lined up with the doors, a wayside-only berthing system would be installed. Emergency egress gates would be installed in between the regular doors to allow people to exit in the case of an emergency. The platform edges and topping would be removed and replaced so that they align with the sills of the train doors and to be in compliance with the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Disability in the United States, Americans with disabilities ...

. To ensure that people do not get trapped in between the subway car doors and the PSDs, sensors and CCTV cameras would be installed with monitors at the center and front of the platforms visible to the train operator and conductor. In June 2018, the $30 million for the platform edge door pilot program was diverted to another project along the Canarsie Line: the installation of elevators at the

station. The pilot program was postponed until sufficient funding could be found. In February 2022, the MTA announced that the PSD installation at Third Avenue would proceed as part of a pilot program involving three stations. The announcement came after several people had been shoved onto tracks, including one incident that led to a woman's death at another station. The MTA started soliciting bids from platform-door manufacturers in mid-2022; the doors are planned to be installed starting in April 2023 at a cost of $6 million.

References

External links

* * Station Reporter �
L Train
* The Subway Nut �
3rd Avenue Pictures

Third Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platforms from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:3rd Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line) BMT Canarsie Line stations New York City Subway stations in Manhattan New York City Subway stations located underground Railway stations in the United States opened in 1924 Gramercy Park East Village, Manhattan Proposed IND Second Avenue Line stations 14th Street (Manhattan)