Chrystie Street Connection

thumb|Map of service changes following the connection's opening

The Chrystie Street Connection is a set of New York City Subway tunnels running the length of Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is one of the few track connections between lines of the former Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) and Independent Subway System (IND) divisions, which together constitute the system's B Division. A major branch of the IND Sixth Avenue Line, it connects the Sixth Avenue Line to the BMT Brighton Line and BMT Fourth Avenue Line via the north side of the Manhattan Bridge and to the BMT Jamaica Line over the Williamsburg Bridge. The project, opened in 1967 and 1968, also includes the Sixth Avenue Line's Grand Street and 57th Street stations, the latter of which is not part of the connection itself.

The connection was originally conceived as part of the long delayed Second Avenue Subway, and, along with the three stations added with the opening of phase 1, is one of the few completed sections of the project. The IND Sixth Avenue Line express tracks formerly continued east, ending slightly east of the Second Avenue station, and were planned to extend into Brooklyn and beyond as part of a never-built major system expansion called the IND Second System. Those tracks still exist at Second Avenue station, but now connect to the local tracks west of the station.

The two tracks on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge formerly carried trains to the BMT Broadway Line, which now connects to the tracks on the south side of the bridge. The northern tracks of the bridge saw heavier traffic loads because it led to Midtown Manhattan, compared to the southern tracks, which made three stops in Lower Manhattan before returning to Brooklyn. As a result of the uneven traffic distribution, the Manhattan Bridge started tilting to its north side. The connection to the Nassau Street Line was cut north of Chambers Street before the Manhattan Bridge and is used for storage from the Nassau Street side.

The opening of the Chrystie Street Connection to the Manhattan Bridge allowed the integration of four major routes of the combined system. The service of the IND was through-routed with the BMT West End Line service as the , and the service of the IND was through-routed with the BMT Brighton Line service as the D.

Williamsburg Bridge connection

thumb|Two trains of [[R42 (New York City Subway car)|R42s pass on the S-curve connecting the Williamsburg Bridge to Marcy Avenue]]

The two tracks that connect to the Williamsburg Bridge split from the Sixth Avenue Line local tracks east of Broadway – Lafayette Street and feed into the BMT Nassau Street Line west of Essex Street.

Development

Planning

A plan similar to the Chrystie Street Connection was proposed as part of the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) under the Board of Transportation's 1944–1948 Capital Program, with connections from the 2nd Avenue line to the BMT Nassau Street Line, the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, as well as a new station at Grand and Chrystie Streets. This plan would have allowed service from Grand Street to run south to Chambers and Broad Streets on the BMT Nassau Street Line, providing an additional East River crossing via the Montague Street Tunnel.

The New York City Board of Estimate voted in September 1951 to construct the Second Avenue Subway and several related lines for $500 million. The next year, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) indicated that it would award contracts for the construction of an section of tunnel between Hester and Delancey Streets, including a station at Grand Street, as part of the SAS project. Work had been expected to begin in mid-1952 but was delayed because of engineering difficulties.

By 1954, the BOT's successor, the New York City Transit Authority, had asked the city for $37.3 million to begin constructing the Chrystie Street Connection. In 1955, the TA recommended that the Board of Estimate approve a contract to reconstruct a junction near the DeKalb Avenue station, on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge, to eliminate a bottleneck there. This was the first step in a larger plan to improve transit service between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Chrystie Street Connection would utilize the additional capacity created by reconstructing the tracks around DeKalb Avenue. That October, the Board of Estimate approved an initial $10.2 million for the connection. This initial funding would be used to construct the connection to the Williamsburg Bridge, as well as the section of the Manhattan Bridge connection from Delancey to Stanton Street. The project was constructed in conjunction with the addition of express tracks on the Sixth Avenue Line between 34th Street and West 4th Street, adding capacity to the line.

In 1962, the construction of an extension of the Sixth Avenue Line to a new terminal at 57th Street was announced. This would be the final major component of the plan to increase Brooklyn to Manhattan capacity. In August 1963, the project was expected to be completed in 1966. On January 23, 1964, the entire seven-block length of Chrystie Street was fully reopened to traffic. It had been subjected to different closures for six years for the construction of the line. Later that year, the tracks in the new connection were laid. In contrast to subway tracks on existing lines, which contained wooden cross ties, the new tracks were installed on rubber pads attached to the concrete track bed, thereby dampening noise from trains.

In 1965, the connection was projected to cost $100 million (), and provide capacity for 52,000 additional riders per hour between Brooklyn and Manhattan. This included 14,000 additional riders on the BMT West End Line, 9,000 on the BMT Sea Beach Line, 17,000 on the BMT Brighton Line, and 12,000 on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line.

Opening

The Manhattan Bridge connection and the Grand Street station opened on November 26, 1967, almost exactly 10 years after the project began. The Williamsburg Bridge connection and 57th Street station opened on July 1, 1968. Lindsay dropped his objection on November 22, just hours before workers started installing heavy equipment to reroute the tracks. Two days later, a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit against the route changes.

The opening of the Manhattan Bridge connection on November 26, 1967, was concurrent with the opening of the new express tracks on the Sixth Avenue Line between West Fourth Street–Washington Square and 34th Street, providing additional capacity for the extra trains on the IND via the connection. The following service changes were made, affecting about 200,000 passengers: Reaction among passengers was mixed, with one passenger hugging a conductor after the opening of the new Grand Street station in Manhattan, while another passenger complained about having to take a slow local train in Brooklyn.

Changes following the Williamsburg Bridge connection opening

The following changes went into effect on July 1, 1968, concurrent with the opening of the 57th Street station at Sixth Avenue and the bridge connection:

• The KK service commenced between the new 57th Street station at Sixth Avenue and 168th Street in Jamaica. It operated only during rush hours, running skip-stop with the QJ on the BMT Jamaica Line east of Broadway Junction and then local into Manhattan. In Brooklyn, the KK (rush hours) and QJ (other times) replaced the JJ service, which was discontinued. The KK served "A" stops on the skip-stop portion of the BMT Jamaica Line, and the QJ served "B" stops. This skip-stop pattern, which had operated only in morning rush hours, was extended into afternoon rush hours, but still ran only in the peak direction.
• The B service was extended during non-rush hours from its former terminus at West Fourth Street–Washington Square to the new 57th Street station, using the local tracks of the IND Sixth Avenue Line. Rush hour trains continued on the established route to Washington Heights–168th Street via the express tracks (and the local tracks of the IND Eighth Avenue Line). The TT shuttle on the BMT West End Line in late evenings, late nights and all day Sunday, was discontinued and replaced by additional B service.
• The D service now bypassed 14th Street and 23rd Street via the express tracks of the IND Sixth Avenue Line at all times. It had previously done this only during rush hours. This service is taken over by the B and KK.
• The M (rush hour service) was extended from Chambers Street to Broad Street due to the additional capacity available from the rerouting of the JJ (as the KK).
• A free transfer was added between 42nd Street–Bryant Park on the IND Sixth Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue on the IRT Flushing Line from 5 AM to 10 PM weekdays. A passageway connecting the stations directly was built later on, and opened in 1972.

The following adjustments to the new service were put into effect on August 18, 1968:

• The D service was truncated to Brighton Beach when it ran express on the BMT Brighton Line (morning rush hours through early evenings). The QB (rush-hour peak direction only) and QJ (morning rush hours through early evenings) were extended from Brighton Beach to Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue.
• The F ran express on the IND Culver Line during rush hours north of Church Avenue. Several peak-direction rush hour trains were truncated to Kings Highway; the rest provide express service north of Kings Highway. The GG train was extended to Church Avenue during rush hours to replace F local service, but was cut back to Smith–Ninth Streets on January 18, 1976.

Later changes

thumb|The NX joins the N

These new services began to unravel in response to commuter complaints about the various routings. Many of the new extensions like the NX and RJ quickly disappeared (April 12, 1968, and June 28, 1968, respectively), although the RJ was replaced with a shorter rush hour R service between Chambers Street and 95th Street-4th Avenue in Brooklyn. The KK (since renamed the K) was discontinued in 1976 as a money-saving measure, ending service via the Williamsburg Bridge connection.

Current service routing

The Chrystie Street Connection returned to full revenue service on June 28, 2010.), and an unused subway segment under Confucius Plaza just to the south. The Chrystie Street Connection would have facilitated cross-platform and track interchanges between the Second and Sixth Avenue lines at Grand Street.