Flushing–Main Street station (IRT Flushing Line)
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox NYCS
The Flushing–Main Street station (signed as Main Street on entrances and pillars, and Main St–Flushing on overhead signs) is the eastern (railroad north) terminal on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway, located at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Downtown Flushing, Queens.<ref name="MTA-Flushing-2015" /> It is served by the 7 local train at all times and the <7> express train during rush hours in the peak direction.<ref name="NYCS7">Template:NYCS const</ref>
The Flushing–Main Street station was originally built as part of the Dual Contracts between the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). It opened on January 21, 1928, completing the segment of the Flushing Line in Queens. Although plans existed for the line to be extended east of the station, such an extension was never built. The station was renovated in the 1990s. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began constructing additional staircases, including four new entrances, at the station in 2022.
The station has two island platforms and three tracks; the platforms are connected at their eastern end. There are nine entrances at street level, leading to two separate fare control areas at Main Street and at Lippmann Plaza. There is an elevator, which makes the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2019, it was the busiest station outside of Manhattan, as well as the 12th busiest subway station in the system.
HistoryEdit
Planning and constructionEdit
The 1913 Dual Contracts called for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) to build new lines in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BRT 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's 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.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Community leaders advocated for more Dual Contracts lines to be built in Queens to allow development there.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
At the time of the line's planning, Downtown Flushing was a quiet Dutch-colonial-style village; what is now Roosevelt Avenue in the area was known as Amity Street, a major commercial thoroughfare in the neighborhood.<ref name="NYTimes-IRTFlushingExt-1921">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp In late 1912, Flushing community groups were petitioning the Public Service Commission (PSC) to depress the proposed line in Flushing into a subway tunnel, rather than an elevated line.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Unlike a subway, an el would cause disturbances to the quality of life and a loss in nearby property values, as well as a widening of Amity Street that would cause more changes to the already existing town. One Amity Street property owner compared the planned effect of an elevated Flushing Line on Amity Street to the degradation of Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn after the Myrtle Avenue Elevated was built there. On the other hand, a subway would only require that the street be widened, even though it was more expensive than an elevated of the same length.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
On January 20, 1913, because of these concerns, the Flushing Association voted to demand that any IRT station in Flushing be built underground.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Due to advocacy for elevated extensions to the line past Flushing (see Template:Section link), the PSC vacillated on whether to build a subway or elevated for the next few months.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp The PSC finally voted to bring the Flushing portion of the line underground in April 1913. However, as the costs of a subway had increased by then, they decided to postpone discussion of the matter.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp In June 1913, the New York City Board of Estimate voted to allow the line to be extended from 103rd Street–Corona Plaza east to Flushing as a three-track line, with a possible two-track second phase to Bayside.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
The Flushing Line west of 103rd Street opened in 1917.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The IRT agreed to operate the line under the condition that any loss of profits would be repaid by the city.<ref name="NYTimes-IRtFlushingRisk-1913">Template:Cite news</ref> As part of the agreement, the PSC would build the line eastward to at least Flushing.<ref name="NYTimes-IRtFlushingRisk-1913" /> The station, as well as two other stations at Willets Point Boulevard and 111th Street, was approved in 1921 as part of an extension of the Flushing Line past 103rd Street.<ref name="NYTimes-IRTFlushingExt-1921" /> Construction of the station and the double-deck bridge over the Flushing Creek began on April 21, 1923, with the station built via cut-and-cover methods.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp The bridge was completed in 1927, and the station opened on January 21, 1928, over a decade after the line initially began operation.<ref name="NYTimes-FlushingMainOpen-1922" /><ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp<ref name="NYDailyNews-MainSTEscalators-1999" />
Proposed extension of the lineEdit
The station was not intended to be the Flushing Line's terminus.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While the controversy over an elevated line in Flushing was ongoing in January 1913, the Whitestone Improvement Association pushed for an elevated to Whitestone, College Point, and Bayside. However, some members of that group wanted to oppose the Flushing line's construction if there was not going to be an extension to Whitestone. After the January 20 vote to demand that the subway line through Flushing be built underground, groups representing communities in south Flushing collaborated to push for an elevated along what was then the LIRR's Central Branch,<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp in the current right-of-way of Kissena Corridor Park.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Eleven days later, the PSC announced its intent to extend the line as an el from Corona to Flushing, with a possible further extension to Little Neck Bay in Bayside.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp There was consensus that the line should not abruptly end in Corona, but even with the Template:Convert extension to Bayside, the borough would still have fewer Dual Contracts route mileage than either Brooklyn or the Bronx. The New York Times wrote that compared to the Bronx, Queens would have far less subway mileage per capita even with the Flushing extension.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Bayside extension was tentatively approved in June 1913, but only after the construction of the initial extension to Flushing.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Under the revised subway expansion plan put forth in December 1913, the Flushing Line would be extended past Main Street, along and/or parallel to the right-of-way of the nearby Port Washington Branch of the LIRR towards Bell Boulevard in Bayside. A spur line would branch off north along 149th Street towards College Point.<ref name="NYTimes-IRtFlushingRisk-1913" />
In 1914, the PSC chairman and the commissioner committed to building the line toward Bayside. However, at the time, the LIRR and IRT were administered separately, and the IRT plan would require rebuilding a section of the Port Washington branch between the Broadway and Auburndale stations. The LIRR moved to block the IRT extension past Flushing since it would compete with the Port Washington Branch service in Bayside.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp One member of the United Civic Association submitted a proposal to the LIRR to let the IRT use the Port Washington Branch to serve Flushing and Bayside, using a connection between the two lines in Corona.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp The PSC supported the connection as an interim measure, and on March 11, 1915, it voted to let the Bayside connection be built. Subsequently, engineers surveying the planned intersection of the LIRR and IRT lines found that the IRT land would not actually overlap with any LIRR land.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The LIRR president at the time, Ralph Peters, offered to lease the Port Washington and Whitestone Branches to the IRT for rapid transit use for $250,000 annually (Template:Inflation), excluding other maintenance costs. The lease would last for ten years, with an option to extend the lease by ten more years. The PSC favored the idea of the IRT being a lessee along these lines, but did not know where to put the Corona connection.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Even the majority of groups in eastern Queens supported the lease plan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The only group who opposed the lease agreement was the Flushing Association, who preferred the original Flushing subway plan.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
Afterward, the PSC largely ignored the lease plan since it was still focused on building the first phase of the Dual Contracts. The Flushing Business Men's Association kept advocating for the Amity Street subway, causing a schism between them and the rest of the groups that supported the LIRR lease. Through the summer of 1915, the PSC and the LIRR negotiated the planned lease to $125,000 a first year, Template:Inflation, with an eight percent increase each year; the negotiations then stalled in 1916.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp The Whitestone Improvement Association, impatient with the pace of negotiations, approved of the subway under Amity Street even though it would not serve them directly.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp<ref name="Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1916">Template:Cite news</ref> The PSC's chief engineer wrote in a report that a combined 20,600 riders would use the Whitestone and Bayside lines each day in either direction, and that by 1927, there would be 34,000 riders per day per direction.<ref name="Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1916" /><ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp The Third Ward Rapid Transit Association wrote a report showing how much they had petitioned for Flushing subway extensions to that point, compared to how little progress they had made in doing so.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Negotiations continued to be stalled in 1917.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Despite the line not having been extended past Corona yet, the idea of a subway extension to Little Neck encouraged development there.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
The Whitestone Branch would have had to be rebuilt if it were leased to the subway, with railroad crossings removed and the single track doubled. The PSC located 14 places where crossings needed to be eliminated. However, by early 1917, there was barely enough money to build the subway to Flushing, let alone a link to Whitestone and Bayside.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp A lease agreement was announced on October 16, 1917,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but the IRT withdrew from the agreement a month later, citing that it was inappropriate to enter such an agreement at that time.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp Thereafter, the PSC instead turned its attention back to the Main Street subway extension.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
Even after the station opened in 1928, efforts to extend the line past Flushing persisted. In 1928, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) proposed allowing IRT trains to build a connection to use the Whitestone branch, but the IRT did not accept the offer since this would entail upgrading railroad crossings and the single-tracked line. Subsequently, the LIRR abandoned the branch in 1932.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp As part of the 1929 IND Second System plan, the Flushing Line would have had branches to College Point and Bayside east of Main Street.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013">Template:Cite Routes Not Taken</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="IND2ndSystem1929Map">Board of Transportation of the City of New York Engineering Department, Proposed Additional Rapid Transit Lines And Proposed Vehicular Tunnel, dated August 23, 1929</ref><ref name="NYTimes-OurGreatSubway-IND2ndSystem-1929">Template:Cite news</ref> That plan was revived in 1939.<ref name="IND2ndSystem1939Map">Project for Expanded Rapid Transit Facilities, New York City Transit System, dated July 5, 1939</ref> The BOT kept proposing an extension of the Flushing Line past Main Street until 1945, when World War II ended and new budgets did not allow for a Flushing extension.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp In 1956, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Queens Transit Committee again proposed the extensions east of the station to Bayside and College Point, along with a new spur along Kissena Boulevard running south to Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica and eventually leading to John F. Kennedy International Airport.<ref name="QnsLedger-TransitPlan-May1956">Template:Cite news</ref> Since then, several New York City Transit Authority proposals for an eastward extension have all failed.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp
Later yearsEdit
1930s to 1960sEdit
Following the station's opening, Downtown Flushing evolved into a major commercial and transit center, as development sprung around the section of Main Street near the station.<ref name="Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013" />Template:Rp On April 24, 1939, express trains began operating to and from the station, in conjunction with the reconstruction of the Willets Point station for the 1939 World's Fair.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Due to the high level of passenger use, beginning in 1940 local residents requested an additional exit at the east end of the station, and the widening of existing staircases.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LIStar-MainStExits-Sep1940">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LIStar-MainSt-2MoreExits-Mar1946">Template:Cite news</ref> A new eastern entrance was added after World War II.<ref name=Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013 />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Ground broke on the new entrance on November 5, 1947,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LIStar-FlushingSubwaySnub-Oct1948-pg2"/> and it opened on October 28, 1948 with two new street stairs and an additional token booth.<ref name="LIStar-FlushingSubwaySnub-Oct1948-pg1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LIStar-FlushingSubwaySnub-Oct1948-pg2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="BOT-1949">Template:Cite book</ref> Upon its initial opening, the new entrance did little to relieve crowding at the main fare control area.<ref name="LIStar-FlushingSubwaySnub-Oct1948-pg1"/><ref name="LIStar-FlushingSubwaySnub-Oct1948-pg2"/>
The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p1248134780">Template:Cite news</ref> The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the 7.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT operation of the Flushing Line ended, and the line became the responsibility of the IRT.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the end of BMT/IRT dual service, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars beforehand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p1325174459">Template:Cite news</ref> The platforms at Main Street and all other stations on the Flushing Line, with the exception of Queensboro Plaza, were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate Template:Convert, 11-car trains.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> An additional entrance was constructed to the north side of Roosevelt Avenue in the 1960s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, nine-car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> With the opening of the 1964 New York World's Fair, trains were lengthened to eleven cars.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="p895766286">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
1970s to presentEdit
A station renovation had been planned since the 1970s. In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The MTA finally found funding for the station's renovation in 1994—at the expense of the renovations of 15 other stations, including three Franklin Avenue Line stations and the Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street, Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street, and 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station complexes—because the station was a "vital station" for commuters from Eastern Queens.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Between 1999 and 2000, the station underwent a major renovation project. The renovation added an elevator near the eastern Lippmann Plaza exit that made the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The project also added new street entrances and a large entrance hall near Lippmann Plaza at the far east end of the station, beyond the bumper blocks at the end of the tracks.<ref name="NYDailyNews-MainSTEscalators-1999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit/><ref name="NYTimes-NYCS7-UN-1997">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="QnsCourier-MainStRenovation-June1999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Flushing–Main Street station has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 2004. The National Park Service listed the station because it was considered a good historic example of Squire J. Vickers architecture during the time of construction.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="focus">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program, New York City allocated $300 million to be used for projects to increase subway station capacity and to make them ADA accessible.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> One of the projects being funded will increase station circulation at Main Street. Four additional staircases would be added between the platforms and the mezzanine; additional street to mezzanine staircases would be added at the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern corners of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street; and two new entrance staircases leading from the west-most area of the mezzanine to Roosevelt Avenue halfway between Main Street and Prince Street would be constructed. To provide space for the new staircases to and from the mezzanine, several employee rooms would be relocated.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the bottom of each new staircase, a new fare control area would be installed in the mezzanine, with four turnstiles. In addition, the project would strengthen or reframe the mezzanine wall liner and roof level beams, and the four existing platform-to-mezzanine staircases would be modified and would receive ADA-compliant handrails and guardrails.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The project also included five countdown clocks, 15 digital information displays, and new cameras.<ref name="Gannon 2023 i152">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The design for this project was completed in January 2020, and construction was to have started in September 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Work on the new staircases began in June 2022, with an estimated cost of $61 million;<ref name="Jackson Heights Post 2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lazar 2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at the time, the work was expected to be complete in October 2023.<ref name="Lazar 2022" /><ref name="Gannon 2022 i147">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The MTA announced in late 2022 that it would open customer service centers at 15 stations; the centers would provide services such as travel information and OMNY farecards. The first six customer service centers, including one at Flushing–Main Street, were to open in early 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The customer service center at the Main Street station opened in March 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The new staircases, entrances, and turnstiles were finished in November 2023;<ref name="Simko-Bednarski 2023 l034">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Butler 2023 e351">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the project had cost $49 million, less than the original budget.<ref name="Gannon 2023 i152" /> The MTA announced in 2024 that it would replace the station's existing waist-high turnstiles with taller, wide-aisle turnstiles.<ref name="Brachfeld 2024 y467">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Station layoutEdit
Ground | Street level | Entrances/exits | |
Mezzanine | Concourse to Main Street | Fare control, MetroCard and OMNY machines, station agent | |
Platform level | Track 1 | ← Template:Rint toward Template:Stl (Template:NYCS Platform Layout IRT Flushing Line/local/previous) | Lippmann Plaza, fare control, MetroCard and OMNY machines, escalator to Roosevelt Avenue Template:NYCS Platform Layout access |
Template:Small | |||
Track M | ← Template:Rint (Template:Rint AM rush) toward Template:Stl (Template:NYCS Platform Layout IRT Flushing Line/local/previous) | ||
Template:Small | |||
Track 2 | ← Template:Rint (Template:Rint AM rush) toward Template:Stl (Template:NYCS Platform Layout IRT Flushing Line/local/previous) |
The station has three tracks and two relatively narrow island platforms that are Template:Convert wide.<ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp It is located entirely under Roosevelt Avenue, which is Template:Convert wide; the avenue was not widened when the subway was built.<ref name=Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013 />Template:Rp<ref name="NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The 7 train stops here at all times, and the <7> train stops here during rush hours in the peak direction.<ref name="NYCS7"/> The station is the eastern terminus for 7 trains; the next station to the west is Template:Stl.<ref name=submap>Template:NYCS const</ref> Main Street is one of only seven underground stations on the Flushing Line,Template:Efn one of three underground stations on the line in Queens,Template:Efn and the only underground station east of Hunters Point Avenue.<ref name="NYTimes-IRTFlushingDelays-March1923">Template:Cite news</ref>
When peak-direction express service operates, express trains leave from the middle and southernmost tracks, Track M and Track 2 respectively, while local trains leave from Track 1. This system was instituted in November 1952.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mosaic on the wall tiles read "MAIN STREET", and small tiles along the platform walls read "M".<ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> The station was built with the cut-and-cover method. Its exterior walls consist of columns located at Template:Convert intervals, with the intermediate spaces filled with concrete.<ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp
At the west end of the platforms are the offices and dispatch tower for the IRT Flushing Line. Train crews report to the offices, while the dispatch tower dispatches trains and controls the Flushing Line. West of the station, the line rises from the tunnel via a portal at College Point Boulevard, and onto the elevated bridge across Flushing Creek.<ref name=Raskin-RoutesNotTaken-2013 />Template:Rp
ExitsEdit
There are nine entrances at street level, leading to two separate fare control areas.<ref name="MTA-Flushing-2015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit/> The original street exit is in the middle of the platforms with a separate mezzanine above the tracks, which contains the fare control area and the 24-hour station agent's booth.<ref name="LIStar-MainStExits-Sep1940" /><ref name="LIStar-MainSt-2MoreExits-Mar1946" /> Staircases lead up to all four corners of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue.<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015/><ref name="LIStar-MainStExits-Sep1940" /><ref name="LIStar-MainSt-2MoreExits-Mar1946" /><ref name=NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit/> Eight staircases lead from the mezzanine to platform level.<ref name="NRHP-04001147">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp An entrance used to lead from the mezzanine to the basement of a Woolworth's store, but this has been walled off.<ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp There were also restrooms along this mezzanine with corresponding tile mosaics.<ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp
The fare control area at Lippmann Plaza has an extremely high ceiling, with the lobby itself located approximately Template:Convert below the street level. The mezzanine is at platform level, and provides an ADA-compliant elevator, three unidirectional escalators, and a stairway to street level at Lippmann Plaza.<ref name="NYDailyNews-MainSTEscalators-1999" /><ref name="NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit" /><ref name="NRHP-04001147"/>Template:Rp New artwork titled Happy World was installed over the row of turnstiles in 1998.<ref name="NYDailyNews-MainSTEscalators-1999" /><ref name="NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The plaza, also known as Lippmann Arcade, is a pedestrian walkway that leads to a municipal parking lot and several bus stops on 39th Avenue.<ref name="MTA-Flushing-2015" /><ref name="NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit" />
Bus serviceEdit
In addition to connecting with the nearby Long Island Rail Road station of the same name, the station serves as one of the two busiest local bus-subway interchanges in Queens (along with Jamaica Center) and the largest in North America,<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref name=NYCGov-FlushingCmns-Transit /><ref name=QnsCourier-MainStRenovation-June1999 /> with over 20 bus routes running through or terminating in the area Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite NYC bus map</ref><ref name="NYCgov-BRTQ44Jan222015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <section begin=flushing-main-street-buses-table/>
Route | Operator | Stop location | North/West Terminal | South/East Terminal | via | notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MTA-operated bus routes | ||||||
NYCT | Roosevelt Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Little Neck | Sanford Avenue, Northern Boulevard | |||
39th Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Fort Totten | Northern Boulevard, Bell Boulevard | ||||
Roosevelt Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Beechhurst | 41st Avenue, 150th Street | ||||
39th Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Fort Totten | Bayside Avenue | ||||
Main Street | Jamaica–Merrick Boulevard | Kissena Boulevard, Horace Harding Expressway, 188th Street, Hillside Avenue | ||||
MTA Bus | Roosevelt Avenue (west of Main Street) | Astoria | Northern Boulevard, Astoria Boulevard | |||
NYCT | Main Street | College Point | Jamaica–Merrick Boulevard | 20th Avenue (Q20A), 14th Avenue (Q20B), Main Street, Archer Avenue | ||
MTA Bus | College Point | Jamaica–LIRR Station | 127th Street, Kissena Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard | |||
NYCT | Roosevelt Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Auburndale | Parsons Boulevard, 46th Avenue, Hollis Court Boulevard | Rush hours only | ||
Main Street | Queens Village or Cambria Heights | Kissena Boulevard, 46th Avenue, 48th Avenue, Springfield Boulevard | ||||
39th Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Bay Terrace Shopping Center | Northern Boulevard, Crocheron Avenue, 32nd Avenue, Corporal Kennedy Street | ||||
MTA Bus | Main Street | Whitestone | Jamaica–LIRR Station | Union Street, Kissena Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard | ||
NYCT | Bronx Zoo–West Farms Square | Jamaica–Merrick Boulevard | Cross Bronx Expressway, Parsons Boulevard, Union Street, Main Street, Archer Avenue | Converted into Q44 Select Bus Service on November 29, 2015. | ||
Roosevelt Avenue (west of Main Street) | LaGuardia Airport | Roosevelt Avenue, 108th Street, Ditmars Boulevard | ||||
MTA Bus | Main Street | Co-op City, Bronx (Rush hours)
Pelham Bay Park (Off-Peak hours) |
Whitestone Expressway, Hutchinson River Parkway, Bruckner Boulevard, Co-op City Boulevard | Limited-stop service | ||
NYCT | 41st Road | Ridgewood Terminal | College Point Boulevard, Corona Avenue, Grand Avenue, Fresh Pond Road | |||
MTA Bus | Main Street | College Point | Jamaica–LIRR Station | College Point Boulevard, 45th Avenue, 164th Street | ||
Roosevelt Avenue (west of Main Street) | Long Island City–Queens Plaza | Northern Boulevard, 35th Avenue, 21st Street | ||||
Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE)-operated bus routes | ||||||
NICE Bus | Roosevelt Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Great Neck LIRR Station | Northern Boulevard | Transfer at Great Neck for n20H to Hicksville | ||
NICE Bus | Roosevelt Avenue (near Lippmann Plaza) | Roslyn Clock Tower | Northern Boulevard | Rush hours only |
<section end=flushing-main-street-buses-table/>
RidershipEdit
The passenger count for the station in 2019 was 17,568,837, making it the 12th busiest subway station system-wide, the busiest station outside of Manhattan, and the busiest station served by one service. This amounted to an average of 56,503 passengers per weekday.<ref name="riderref">Template:NYCS const</ref> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, ridership dropped drastically in 2020, with only 6,944,923 passengers entering the station that year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Flushing–Main Street station was the 10th busiest station system-wide in 2020. However, due to a steep drop in ridership in Manhattan, it was no longer the busiest station outside Manhattan, having been surpassed by the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station.<ref name="The City 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Attractions and points of interestEdit
Template:See also The station is located in Downtown Flushing, also known as Flushing Chinatown, one of New York City's largest Asian enclaves.<ref name="NYTimes-MainStNYC-2008">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nysun-Flushing-2008">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Several city and national landmarks are located on the Queens Historical Society's Freedom Mile, which runs around downtown Flushing:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Flushing Armory, on Northern Boulevard between Linden Place and Union Street<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Flushing High School on Northern Boulevard between Union and Bowne Streets<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Flushing Town Hall, at Northern Boulevard and Linden Place<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- John Bowne House, at 37th Avenue and Bowne Street<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Kingsland Homestead and the Weeping Beech, at 37th Avenue west of Parsons Boulevard,<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Lewis H. Latimer House, at 137th Street and Leavitt Street<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Old Quaker Meeting House, at Northern Boulevard and Linden Place<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- St. George's Church, on Main Street between 38th and 39th Avenues<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Other points of interest include:
- Bowne Street Community Church, at Bowne Street and Roosevelt Avenue<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Flushing Main Post Office, on Main Street between Sanford and Maple Avenues<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref name="nris">Template:NRISref</ref>
- Free Synagogue of Flushing, at Kissena Boulevard and Sanford Avenue<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref name="nris"/>
- Lippmann Plaza, between 39th Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue east of Main Street. Named after longtime Flushing businessman Paul Lippmann.<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Queens Library, Flushing Branch, at Main Street and Kissena Boulevard, the successor to the original Queens Library branch.<ref name=MTA-Flushing-2015 /><ref name=nysun-Flushing-2008 />
GalleryEdit
- Mainst Flushing IRT eastern sta jeh.JPG
Eastern entrance, refurbished in 1999
- NYC Main St Flushing station 1.jpg
Eastern entrance ticket hall
- MTA NYC Orion 5 Q65 bus.JPG
A Q65 bus outside the station, at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue
- Main Street New entrance.jpg
One of two new entrances, opened in 2023
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:NYCS ref
- nycsubway.org – Happy World Artwork by Ik-Joong Kang (1998)
- Station Reporter – 7 Train
- The Subway Nut – Main Street–Flushing pictures
- MTA's Arts For Transit – Flushing–Main Street (IRT Flushing Line)
- Main Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
- Eastern entrance on Roosevelt Avenue from Google Maps Street View
- Platforms from Google Maps Street View
- Lobby from Google Maps Street View
Template:Flushing, Queens Template:NYCS stations navbox by service Template:NYCS stations navbox by line Template:National Register of Historic Places listings in Queens Template:Good article