Bay Ridge–95th Street station

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The **Bay Ridge–95th Street station** (originally **95th Street–Fort Hamilton station**) is the southern terminal station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Despite the name, the station is located in the neighborhood of Fort Hamilton (as its original name implied) at the intersection of 95th Street and Fourth Avenue in southwestern Brooklyn. It is served by the R train at all times.

The station was first planned in 1922 as the first part of an extension to Staten Island through a tunnel under the Narrows. Construction began on December 17, 1923, after the construction contractor submitted, withdrew, and resubmitted its bid. The station opened on October 31, 1925, but the Staten Island extension was never built due to various funding disputes. The platform was lengthened in the 1960s.

Geographically, this station is the westernmost station in the entire New York City Subway system.

## History

 File:Bay Ridge–95th St td (2018-09-19) 03.jpg
### Construction and opening

On August 25, 1922, the Transit Commission directed its chief engineer, Robert Ridgeway, to plan an extension of the Fourth Avenue Line from 87th Street to Fort Hamilton. Initially, multiple stations along the extension were considered. This extension was to be the first part of an extension to Staten Island through a tunnel under The Narrows. On September 12, 1922, a meeting was held by the Transit Commission to determine whether a stop at 91st Street should be included as part of the planned extension. Ultimately, no station was built at 91st Street. At the meeting it was decided that money for an additional station in between 86th Street and the new terminal at 95th Street would be better spent on an extensive terminal with entrances at 93rd, 94th, and 95th Streets. Other extensions were also planned in 1922: a branch of the line running via 86th Street to 18th Avenue to connect with the New Utrecht Line to Coney Island, Route 19, and the future subway under Tenth Avenue, as well as a branch of the line at 67th Street heading to Staten Island, Route 20.

On December 28, 1922, the Transit Commission announced that it had awarded the contract for the construction of a half-mile extension of the Fourth Avenue Line, Contract 11B, to T. A. Gillespie Company for $1.5 million (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year). However, as the Board of Estimate failed to take action upon it, the contractor withdrew its bid on March 7, 1923. The Transit Commission blamed the Board of Estimate for delays in the awarding of the contract; the Commission said that the city would suffer a substantial loss due to increased construction costs, and because the contract that was given was "highly advantageous to the city." As part of Contract 11B, the extension was built with two tracks, with the exception of a short three-track stretch just north of the terminal at 95th Street. The extension was to be built with a provision to extend the line to Staten Island. As a result of a motion made by Commissioner LeRoy Harkness in front of the Transit Commission, the contract was set to be put back up for bid. On November 2, 1923, the Board of Estimate approved the contract for the line with T. A. Gillespie Company, the same contractor that had bid on the project earlier, but withdrew. The Transit Commission, due to the delay of the project, gave orders on November 3 to speed up the completion of the project. Construction began on December 17, 1923. The final extension to 95th Street, Route 18, opened on October 31, 1925, with the first train leaving at 2 p.m.

### Platform extension

In the 1960s, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) started a project to lengthen station platforms on its lines in Southern Brooklyn from Template:Convert to Template:Convert to accommodate 10-car trains. On July 14, 1967, the NYCTA awarded a contract to conduct test borings at eleven stations on the Fourth Avenue Line, including 95th Street, to W. M. Walsh Corporation for $6,585 (Template:Inflation) in preparation of the construction of platform extensions. The NYCTA issued an invitation for bids on the project to extend the platforms at stations along the Fourth Avenue Line between 45th Street and this station on May 3, 1968. However, work had already started on the platform extension project in February. The platform at 95th Street was extended by Template:Convert to the south.

## Station layout

Template:NYCS Platform Layout Terminal Station/underground
This underground station has two tracks and one island platform. The tracks end at bumper blocks at the south end of the platform. North of this station, a center layup track forms just north of the diamond crossover, before ending at a bumper block just south of 86th Street station. The R stops here at all times.

The platform has yellow painted I-beam columns and alternate ones have "95 Street" signs on them. Both platform walls have their original mosaic trim line with name tablets reading "95TH STREET" along the entire station except for a small section at the north end, where the platform was extended in 1970. Here, the wall is bare black. The station was constructed with a signal tower and dispatcher's office.

### Exits

 File:95th Street - NW Corner Stairs.jpg  The station has two mezzanines above the platform and tracks. Mosaic directional signs indicate they were originally one full-length mezzanine. The closed-off sections are now used for employee-only spaces. The station's larger, full-time mezzanine is at the south end. It has two staircases from the platform, a turnstile bank, a token booth, and two restrooms. In addition, two staircases going up to either western corners of Fourth Avenue and 95th Street. A passageway leads to another staircase on the east side of the intersection, built inside an alcove of 9425 Fifth Avenue. The station's other mezzanine is unstaffed, containing one staircase from the platform, high entry/exit turnstiles, and two staircases going up to either southern corners of 93rd Street and Fourth Avenue. Additional exits were planned at 94th Street, but were never built.

## Provisions for proposed extensions

 File:95th St BMT exits.jpg
The station is built on the west side of Fourth Avenue due to plans for a possible extension of the express tracks south of 59th Street. This station had been built mainly to facilitate the Staten Island Tunnel or the "Narrows Tunnel", which would have necessitated express service, although the tunnel was never constructed.

South of this station, there is a false wall at the end of the tracks for a planned extension to 100th or 101st Street and into the never-built Staten Island "Narrows Tunnel", connecting the BMT line with the Staten Island Railway (SIRT) Main Line near its Grasmere station. The station would have also connected with the now-defunct South Beach Branch by disconnecting it from the SIRT main line, with the BMT Fourth Avenue Subway taking over service from the SIRT's Fort Wadsworth station to the Wentworth Avenue terminal. At the time it would have been a very different line had this tunnel been built, with through BMT service from Queensboro Plaza to Wentworth Avenue in Staten Island stopping at this station before proceeding to Staten Island, since this station is also the closest point to Staten Island. There were also plans to construct an underground storage yard here. The SIRT had been electrified in preparation for the tunnel, and had purchased subway cars similar to the AB Standards of the BMT.

The tunnel plan was amended in 1919, moving its location north to Shore Road in Bay Ridge. A groundbreaking ceremony was held by New York City Mayor John Hylan on April 14, 1923 in Bay Ridge and in Staten Island on July 19. In 1925, however—the year bids from contractors were to be entertained by the city—the project was halted and the project's engineering staff laid off. Officially, the plan was delayed due to lack of funding, but Hylan and New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) Chairman John Delaney also wanted to secure freight service for the tunnel. These disagreements caused deadlocks between the parties involved.

Later proposals surfaced to connect the station to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, one of the world's longest suspension bridges, which follows the route of the planned tunnel, but the bridge was completed in 1964 without provisions for rail traffic.

## External links

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* Template:NYCS ref
* Station Reporter — R Train
* The Subway Nut - Bay Ridge–95th Street Station Pictures Template:Webarchive
* 95th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
* Platform from Google Maps Street View

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1. ↑ Template:Cite news
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12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Template:Cite news
13. ↑ Template:Cite news
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 95th St. Subway Extension Opened At 2 P. M. Today (October 31, 1925).
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Subway Bids Announced: For 95th Street Terminal, Brooklyn, and Corona Yard (March 1, 1925).
16. ↑ Template:Cite book
17. ↑ Template:Cite book
18. ↑ Template:Cite book
19. ↑ Template:Cite journal
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Template:NYCS const
21. ↑ Rosenfeld, Robbie (October 15, 2017). View of the bumper blocks at the south end of the station.
22. ↑ Template:NYCS const
23. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). Looking down the single, narrow island platform at 95 Street-Bay Ridge..
24. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). A close-up of 95 Street written in mosaic into the mosaic trim.
25. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). A R46 R train enters 95th Street, approaching the one part of the platform wall that is untiled..
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). A High Entrance/Exit and a High Exit Turnstile lead out to the exit to 93 Streets..
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Rosenfeld, Robbie (October 15, 2017). View of mosaic tiling indicating that the station used to have a full-length mezzanine.
28. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). The turnstiles and decently sized mezzanine from the 95 Street entrance..
29. ↑ Rosenfeld, Robbie (October 15, 2017). View of the 95th Street mezzanine.
30. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). The mosaic Men sign and open men's room on the mezzanine level at 95 Street..Template:Dead link
31. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). The Women's room on the mezzanine level at 95 Street, whose sign says it should be open is locked tight..
32. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). An unusual subway entrance to 95 Street with an old mosaic sign leading to a now closed shoes repaired while you wait..
33. ↑ Cox, Jeremiah (June 9, 2009). Approaching the single staircase right at the most northern of the platform at 95 Street to the unstaffed exit to 93 Streets..
34. ↑ MTA Neighborhood Maps: Bay Ridge. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (2015).
35. ↑ Locates Extension Station: Transit Board Decides on 93d-95th St,. Brooklyn, Site. (September 13, 1922).
36. ↑ Brooklyn Subway Extension Plan: Fourth Ave. Line to 86th St., Tunnel to Staten Island, and Eventually a Through Route to Coney Island (February 16, 1912).
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 To Extend Subway to Fort Hamilton (August 26, 1922).
38. ↑ Three Rapid Transit Contracts are Let (December 29, 1922).
39. ↑ Discuss Subway Work: Fort Hamilton Taxpayers Want 100th Street Extended (September 24, 1911).
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 State Island Rapid Transit: The Essential History. The Third Rail Online (January 2002).
41. ↑ To Act This Year on the Richmond Tube: Route Approved in 1912 Still Alive-May Soon Be Adopted Anew or Amended (February 13, 1919).
42. ↑ They Called The 1923 Narrows Tunnel: 'Hope And A Hole In The Ground'. Home Reporter and Sunset News, Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (November 27, 1964).
43. ↑ Staten Island Tube Started by Hylan (April 15, 1923).
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 Template:Cite Routes Not Taken
45. ↑ Template:Cite news
46. ↑ Template:Cite book
47. ↑ Staten Island Rapid Transit: The Essential History. The Third Rail Online (January 2002).
48. ↑ Staten Island Waits for Narrows Tunnel (May 10, 1925).
49. ↑ Subway Planners' Lofty Ambitions Are Buried as Dead-End Curiosities (November 17, 1996).