Forest Hills-71st Avenue (previously known as 71st-Continental Avenues) is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, located on Queens Boulevard at 71st (Continental) Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens. It is served by the E and F trains at all times, the R train at all times except late nights, and the M train on weekdays except late nights. It serves as the terminus for the latter two services.
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History
The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), and stretches between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 179th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by a Public Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25,000,000. One of the proposed stations would have been located at 71st Avenue. In the late 1920s, with the news of the subway extension, real estate prices soared, and older buildings were demolished in order to make way for new development. In 1930, in anticipation of growth due to the building of the Queens Boulevard Line, several blocks of land along Queens Boulevard were rezoned so that fifteen-story apartment buildings could be built.
Queens Borough President George Harvey predicted that the introduction of the subway to Forest Hills would turn Queens Boulevard into the "Park Avenue of Queens". The construction of the subway encouraged the development of apartments, which after the line's completion would lure residents from Midtown Manhattan. There was even more development at the location surrounding this station location because it offered an affordable express route to Manhattan, making Forest Hills a more desirable place to live.
On December 31, 1936, the IND Queens Boulevard Line was extended by eight stops, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km), from its previous terminus at Roosevelt Avenue to Union Turnpike, and the 71st Avenue station opened as part of this extension.
The station was proposed as a transfer station between the never-built Queens Super-Express Bypass as part of the 1968 Program for Action, which would have significantly expanded railway and subway service in the five boroughs. Under a 1984 plan, the new express station would have been one of three stops on the 63rd Street Line extension east of 21st Street-Queensbridge, the other two stops being at Northern Boulevard and Woodside. The bypass station would have had a mezzanine, two platform levels (an upper platform for Jamaica- and Southeast Queens-bound trains; a lower platform for Manhattan-bound trains), a new elevator entrance, and an expanded mezzanine, with escalators and stairs connecting the new platform levels to the existing platforms. The new station would have been built on the south side of Queens Boulevard, south of the existing station.
In 2014, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority built a new signal tower for the Manhattan-bound platform. The agency also upgraded the station to compliance with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act; the upgrade included passenger elevators to serve the street level, mezzanine and platforms. This project, after a three-month delay, was completed by March 2014. A ribbon-cutting for the new elevators, however, wasn't held until May 2014.
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Station layout
The station has four tracks and two island platforms. It is the northern terminal for the local M and R trains, which stop on the outer tracks. To the east, the line widens to six tracks, with two tracks starting between the local and express tracks in each direction, then ramping down to a lower level, where they widen to four tracks and run under the 75th Avenue station to Jamaica Yard. F trains stop on the express track at all times, but switch to the local track to the east and continue on to Jamaica-179th Street. E trains stop on the express tracks at all times except late nights, when they make local stops along the Queens Boulevard Line. To the east, they continue on the express tracks (except evenings and weekends when they switch to the local track like the F) to Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer, with limited rush-hour express service to 179th Street.
Both outer track walls have a lime green tile band with a black border and small "71st AVE" signs below them, in white lettering on black tiles. The station's columns are painted in lime green with signs reading "71 - Forest Hills", while older signs on the black columns between the express tracks read "CONTINENTAL AVENUE - Forest Hills" in black lettering on a white border.
A signal tower and dispatchers' office is at the extreme eastern end of the northbound platform. A second smaller dispatcher's booth sits on the center of the Manhattan-bound platform.
Exits
There are three fare control areas on the full width mezzanine above the platforms and tracks. The full-time booth is near the east end of the station and is closest to the southern staircase going up to 71st Avenue and Queens Boulevard. One of the part-time booths is in the same area in the middle of the mezzanine and is closest to 108th Street and 71st Avenue. The other part-time booth is at the west end by 70th Road and Queens Blvd and has only one street stair. There are seven staircases to each platform.
Signage
On the current MTA map and published timetables, the station name is "Forest Hills-71st Avenue." In the past, "Continental Avenue" (the alternative name of 71st Avenue used in nearby Forest Hills Gardens) has been included in the name and is used on the rollsigns of older rolling stock such as the R32. As of 2011, the platform signage reads 71-Continental Av-Forest Hills.
Points of interest
Nearby points of interest include:
- Austin Street, a major business thoroughfare in Forest Hills, located south of the station.
- Forest Hills LIRR Station, located in Station Square in Forest Hills Gardens at Burns Street.
- West Side Tennis Club, containing Forest Hills Stadium, which hosted the US Open tennis tournament until 1977.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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