Franklin Avenue/Botanic Garden station
The Franklin Avenue/Botanic Garden station is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the IRT Eastern Parkway Line and the BMT Franklin Avenue Line. Located at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, it is served by the: The station complex is named for its proximity to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The free transfer between the Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue shuttle platforms was added in 1999 using a passageway that had existed since October 1928, when the BMT Botanic Garden station opened. Station layout. Exits. Due to the  free transfer passageway, all exits serve all platforms. BMT Franklin Avenue Line platforms. The Botanic Garden station on the BMT Franklin Avenue Line has two tracks and two side platforms. The station is named for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden two blocks away from the station. There was no station at this location until December 1926, when a new station was constructed to replace Consumers Park several blocks to the south, which was considered too close to Prospect Park to be useful. "Consumers Park" had been renamed "Botanic Garden" in 1924. The new station assumed this name upon opening on September  30, 1928, and the old station closed at the same time. The station deteriorated over the years as the New York City Transit Authority considered whether to abandon or rehabilitate the station and the line. Support in the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights communities persuaded the city to rebuild the line from July 1998 to September 1999. A transfer to Franklin Avenue on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line was added via a passageway that connects the Franklin Avenue-bound platform to the IRT mezzanine. Prior to the rehabilitation project, only a portion of the station was in the tunnel, as  the platforms were longer and continued outdoors. The station's mezzanine is above the platforms and tracks. Two staircases from each side go up to a waiting area that allows a free transfer between directions (this is needed for passengers transferring between the IRT and Prospect Park-bound trains). Outside of the turnstile bank, there is a token booth and one street stair. The rebuilt station was built in the open-cut right-of-way to the south of Eastern Parkway, and the half of the station closest to that street was roofed over in the appearance of a subway  structure. The station is now located entirely inside the subway structure that was built in 1928. At street level, it features floral wrought iron fencing in recognition of its location near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (entitled "IL7/Square" by Millie Burns). At track level it includes 1920s-era mosaic tiling. To the immediate north of the station, the 1878 railroad tunnel that carries the line under Eastern Parkway has been dramatically lighted. This is the oldest tunnel currently in subway use. IRT Eastern Parkway Line platforms. The Franklin Avenue–Medgar Evers College station (originally Franklin Avenue station) is an underground  express station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line that has four tracks with two island platforms and opened on August 23, 1920. Both platforms have yellow i-beam columns on both sides at regular intervals with every other one having the standard black station name plate in white lettering. The platform walls have their original Dual Contracts trim line with "F" tablets for "Franklin" at regular intervals. At the extreme west (railroad north) end, the platforms were extended in the 1950s to accommodate the current standard IRT train length of 510 feet. The walls here have a blue trim line  with "FRANKLIN AVE" in white sans serif lettering on two lines. The station's main entrance is a mezzanine above the platforms and tracks at their center. Two staircases from each platform go up to a waiting area that allows a free transfer between directions. Outside of the turnstile bank, there is a token booth and four street stairs to either eastern corners of Franklin Avenue and Eastern Parkway. The transfer to the Franklin Avenue Shuttle is at the west end of the station. A single staircase from each platform goes up to a mezzanine, where a passageway leads to  the north end of the Franklin Avenue-bound platform. A crossover is required to reach the Prospect Park-bound platform. The station has been adopted by Clara Barton High School as part of New York City Transit's "Adopt-A-Station" program. Franklin Avenue, along with the President Street station on the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line, are the two closest stations to the City University of New York's Medgar Evers College. In 2019, a bill to add the college's name to both stations' names was passed in the New York state legislature and signed into law. The name  of the Franklin Avenue station was officially changed to "Franklin Avenue–Medgar Evers College" on October 1, 2020, both to reflect the station's proximity to the college and to honor the college's namesake, civil rights figure Medgar Evers. Rogers Junction. East (railroad south) of this station is Rogers Junction, where trains can diverge to the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line or continue on Eastern Parkway. From west to east between the station and the junction, the northbound local track descends to a lower level directly below the southbound local track. Then, the northbound express track, which is still on  the upper level at this point, descends to the lower level directly below the southbound express track, creating a dual level two-over-two track layout. At the junction, a switch on the upper level allows southbound 5 express trains to change to the local track, and a corresponding switch on the lower level allows 5 trains on the northbound local track to change to the express track. Directly to the east, all of the mainline tracks shift slightly to the north, and the mainline local tracks on both levels become the Nostrand Avenue Line tracks, which turn to the  south. There is a closed tower at the south end of the southbound platform. This junction is a severe traffic bottleneck during rush hours, and rebuilding it would require massive construction including the tearing up of Eastern Parkway. The reconstruction of the junction in order to alleviate train congestion has been suggested several times. The plan was first unveiled in the 1967 Transportation Studies for Southeast Brooklyn, and subsequently in 1968 as part of the Program for Action. The MTA's Engineering Department Planning Division considered such a project again in 1972. In 1993, as part of the 1992–1996 Capital  Program, the MTA studied seven alternatives for rebuilding the junction. The 1993 study suggested the further scrutiny of two proposals: "Alternative 4", which would simply add a switch on each level east of the Nostrand Avenue Line split, and "Alternative 6", which would reconstruct the junction entirely.