page_title: Mets–Willets Point station (IRT Flushing Line)
section_title: Construction and opening
hierarchical_section_title: Mets–Willets Point station (IRT Flushing Line) / History / Construction and opening
caption_attribution_description: English: Mets - Willets Point Station with Citi Field in the background
context_page_description: Mets–Willets Point is an express station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the 7 train at all times and by the <7> train rush hours in the peak direction or after sporting events. This station is located near Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Willets Point, Queens, on Roosevelt Avenue between 114th and 126th Streets.
  The station was originally opened as a local station, Willets Point Boulevard, in 1927. It was rebuilt into the current layout of three tracks, two side platforms, and a center island platform for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The station's peak use occurs during Mets games at Citi Field, located on the north side of the station, and during events at the USTA National Tennis Center, on the south side.
context_section_description: The 1910 Dual Contracts called for extending IRT and BMT lines to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BMT lines compared to Brooklyn and the Bronx, since the city's Public Service Commission (PSC) wanted to alleviate subway crowding in the other two boroughs first before building in Queens, which was relatively undeveloped. The IRT Flushing Line was to be one of two Dual Contracts lines in the borough, and it would connect Flushing and Long Island City, two of Queens' oldest settlements, to Manhattan via the Steinway Tunnel. When the majority of line was built in the early 1910s, most of the route went through undeveloped land, and Roosevelt Avenue had not been constructed. Community leaders advocated for more Dual Contracts lines to be built in Queens to allow development there.
  The original Willets Point Boulevard station opened on May 7, 1927. At that time, it was located at the intersection of Willets Point Boulevard, 126th Street, and Roosevelt Avenue and was a minor, local stop on the Flushing Line. Trains terminated at this station, with a shuttle bus to Flushing until that town's subway station could be built. On January 22, 1928, the station at Flushing opened, and Willets Point Boulevard became an intermediate station on the line.
caption: Citi Field and the Manhattan-bound local platform, as seen from the center island platform
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