Franklin Ave Station to Receive Elevators – Kingston Ave to Remain Only Inaccessible Station in CH
The MTA announced that another Crown Heights Subway station, Franklin Avenue, will receive elevators and accessibility enhancements (ADA). This leaves Kingston Ave will remain as the sole station that will receive no elevators in the neighborhood • Full Story
By Chabadinfo Reporter
At a press conference in Crown Heights, MTA leaders announced last week that another Crown Heights Subway station, Franklin Avenue, is among 12 stations that will receive elevators and accessibility enhancements (ADA). This leaves Kingston Ave will remain as the sole station that will receive no elevators in the neighborhood.
New elevators will be installed at an additional 12 stations throughout New York City, one more station in Crown Heights:
• Franklin Ave – Medgar Evers College/Botanic Garden, a major transfer station, which is serviced by the 2, 3, 4, and 5. And the Franklin Ave Shuttle. (Notably, the MTA considered these two separate stations).
Last month, Chabadinfo exclusively reported that three Crown Heights stations will receive elevators and ADA enhancements:
• Nostrand Ave, which is serviced by the 3 (and 4 during late nights)
• President Street – Medgar Evers College, which is serviced by the 2 and 5
• Sterling Street, which is serviced by the 2 and 5.
The Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway – Brooklyn Museum stations have already received accessible upgrades.
Notably, Kingston Ave will be the only Subway station in Crow Heights without an elevator. It’s notable because two of the stations slated for upgrades, President Street and Nostrand Ave, are just three short blocks away from each other.
As we wrote earlier, the MTA told Chabadinfo they use “legislatively-mandated criteria including geographic coverage, community destinations, ridership, demographics, transfers, constructability, and cost.”
The MTA said they rely on feedback on which stations to choose for upgrades, and that residents can use this form to give feedback on ADA upgrades. In the press release announcing the new station upgrades, the MTA said that, for the first time, they used that public form to choose which stations will receive elevators.
The MTA’s plans for the Neighborhood
Crown Heights is currently served by nine Subway lines: the 2, 3, 4, and 5 run right through the community along Nostrand and Eastern Pkwy. The A and C run along the North side on Fulton Street. The B and Q run along the West side of the neighborhood on Flatbush Avenue. And the Franklin Ave Shuttle (a remnant of the former Brighton and Fulton Line) runs along Franklin Ave. The Long Island Railroad also serves Crown Heights with its station at Nostrand and Atlantic Avenue.
In the Capital Plan the MTA singles out the 2, 3, 4 and 5, some of the most ridden and congested trunk lines for upgrades, as Chabadinfo exclusively reported recently, the MTA will unclog the infamous “Nostrand Junction” just east of Franklin Ave in Crown Heights, which merges the 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines, according to the updated Capital plan released by the MTA. This plan means that the 3 train may no longer run at Kingston Avenue.
The project involves the installation of new crossover tracks, meaning that it will rearrange the tracks so that trains that run express (4 and 5) in Brooklyn west of Franklin Avenue can approach on the express tracks and trains that run local (2 and 3) can stay on local tracks all the way through the junction. It will also make a modified routing plan for the trains that use Nostrand Junction.
Although no specific plans have been announced, an earlier study (which was used in the MTA’s 20-Year Needs Assessment) released by the MTA suggests that the 3 and 5 lines will be swapped in Brooklyn and a new line added. Notably, this would change the routing of the Subway lines in Crown Heights, losing direct access to Lexington Ave (4, 5) or 7th Ave (2, 3) lines:
• The 4 would still end at Utica Ave, but the 5 would go down to New Lots.
• The 2 and 3 would run along Nostrand Ave to Flatbush Ave
• A new line (called the 8 line in the plan) between Wakefield–241st Street and New Lots Ave, with local stops at Nostrand Ave and Kingston Ave. In this scenario, there would be a sole line at these two stations, which may mean even longer headways.
Read more about the plan here
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Speaking of service patterns, the MTA is in the draft phase of redesigning Brooklyn’s bus network — which Chabadinfo first reported on in 2023 — which would overhaul bus lines across Brooklyn, including rerouting the southbound B43 along Albany instead of Brooklyn Ave. and adding the B10 along Empire Blvd. Additionally, the northbound B49 would run along New York Ave and the northbound B44 local will run along Rogers Ave.
The MTA also plans on phasing out the iconic orange seat cars on the 3 line with new train cars. They are scheduled to remain in service until the late 2020s, when they will likely be replaced with the new technology trains “R262” models. Other numbered lines may also get these upgrades, depending on how the MTA utilizes them.
The MTA is in the midst of planning the “Interborough Express,” a new train line between Brooklyn and Queens which would connect the communities of Flatbush, Boro Park, and Crown Heights. Additionally, the MTA is also evaluating whether to construct a Subway line down Utica Avenue, but that isn’t in the current plans.
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The one station that actually needs it — they won’t install one there! Instead, they’re planning to put three elevators at stations just 2 and 5 blocks apart. Kingston Avenue Station sees way more traffic than any of those, but it’s being ignored. Medgar Evers is just political posturing, nothing else.
So let me get this straight: the MTA is installing elevators at multiple stations within a few blocks of each other — but somehow Kingston Ave, one of the busiest and most central stations in Crown Heights, gets skipped entirely? It makes no sense. Especially when they claim the process is based on ridership and community input. Anyone who actually uses the trains here knows Kingston needs accessibility upgrades badly. This feels more like politics than planning.