WHERE: Times Square subway station, Manhattan (fully accessible)
Photographs by Michael Cairl.
Times Square is actually four connected subway stations that opened between 1904 and 1927. In recent years they have been made both accessible and better connected. The most ambitious parts have been constructing a wide passageway underneath 7th Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets, making it easier to move people around in normal conditions and in emergencies, and rebuilding the oldest part of the complex, housing the shuttle to Grand Central. This was part of the first subway in 1904, and the original platforms and two of the four original track ways were made redundant by the rebuilding but became available for other use. In this case, it was using all that space for a new stairway and elevator to the street right by One Times Square, the focus of New Year’s Eve festivities. The new entrance was also made possible by clawing back more of the Times Square streetscape from vehicular use.
The entrance features art work by Nick Cave. (Some steps away in the station mezzanine is a site-specific work by the late artist Roy Lichtenstein.) The elevator in the new entrance is the first in the subway to be equipped with two-way communications. There is no clutter to get in the way of sight lines or travel, and signage is good.
Good work, MTA!
