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| Re: Bellmouths and tunnel expansions (504172) | |||
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Re: Bellmouths and tunnel expansions |
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Posted by Howard Fein on Thu Oct 18 08:24:46 2007, in response to Re: Bellmouths and tunnel expansions, posted by Kew Gardens Teleport on Wed Oct 17 05:57:11 2007. Yes, I discovered that some years ago. Aware of the brief exposure of the subway tracks, I went on foot to the east side of 4th Avenue just south of the LIRR Bay Ridge cut and descended as close as possible to the underpass in hopes of being able to see R trains passing by. This cannot be achieved on the west side of 4th Avenue due to private property on that side, i.e. the parking lot to the high-rise apartment complex.The trackways were easily visible. However, I kept hearing trains go by that I couldn't see. That's when I became aware that the two trackways on the east side were never used and the active tracks run under the west side of 4th Avenue. This becomes more readily apparent when entering the Bay Ridge Avenue or 77th Street stations. The entrance passageway is noticeably longer between fare control and the east side of 4th Avenue than it is on the west side. Similarly, the four tracks of the Queens Boulevard line are much closer to the southern/western side of the Boulevard- NOT the middle-the entire length from Broadway/Grand Avenue to Van Wyck. Its hard to say whether this was dictated by topography or that the northern/western side of the Boulevard was more developed at time of construction. The tunnels running under CPW and Eastern Parkway are double-decked and shunted to the eastern and southern sides respectively despite there being ample width for a four-track line. Obviously the wealthy residents of CPW didn't want the subway running directly under their domiciles to the line was built under the edge of the park. (Several gratings are visible just inside the wall in the sixties through eighties.) As to why the Eastern Parkway tunnel was double-decked and concentrated on the south side is not clear. Another linear oddity is the IND running not directly under, but just east of Prospect Park West between 9th Street and Prospect Avenue. This accounts for the southern entrance to 15/PP being on Windsor Place a half block east of PPW. (A look at Google Earth and MSN Live Bird's Eye easily traces the tunnel ROW from PPSW to Prospect Avenue. There's a community garden and little league field atop it rather than buildings.) Could have been the PPW NIMBYs, assuming the area was all that wealthy prior to 1933. |
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