MTA Dude Posted February 25, 2015 Share #76 Posted February 25, 2015 I don't get why that is called the Lexington Av line. Only half of the line is on Lex. Why couldn't they stay on Lexington Avenue until whenever and whenever? But the same goes for the Queens Blvd line though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainmaster5 Posted February 25, 2015 Share #77 Posted February 25, 2015 I don't get why that is called the Lexington Av line. Only half of the line is on Lex. Why couldn't they stay on Lexington Avenue until whenever and whenever? But the same goes for the Queens Blvd line though... It was the IRT Fourth Avenue Subway because it ran on that street, among others, when it was constructed. Fourth Avenue north to Grand Central before turning westward to Times Square and Broadway. Fourth Avenue from south of East 32nd St to Union Square was renamed Park Avenue South. The line didn't travel on Lexington Avenue itself until expansion took place. Up to the early '90s there were blue and white signs on some IRT elevated stations that actually called it the "Lexington-Fourth Avenue line". I'm not sure how many of them still remain though. BTW the present day Grand Central stop on the , , isn't located on Fourth Avenue or Lexington Avenue but on 42nd St itself. The turns the N/B and S/B trains make entering and leaving that station are what sets up the overhead street routing. Neither Lexington Avenue nor Queens Boulevard travel the length of their respective boroughs even if the trunk lines carry those names.Hope that helps. Carry on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deskjockey Posted February 25, 2015 Share #78 Posted February 25, 2015 The explanation is logical but Fulton Street is narrower and has 4 tracks to IND specs on the same level. Isn't it 90 or so feet deep there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTA1992 Posted February 25, 2015 Share #79 Posted February 25, 2015 I don't get why that is called the Lexington Av line. Only half of the line is on Lex. Why couldn't they stay on Lexington Avenue until whenever and whenever? But the same goes for the Queens Blvd line though... Good question. But I think it also has to do with the fact that the lines are referred to the main street they travel on below 59th Street. Since the travel on multiple streets below Grand Central, the rationale must have been to name the trunk the Lexington Avenue line because the street is unbroken above 42nd. Before 1979 and the creation of the current color scheme, it was usually referred to as the Lexington-Fourth Avenue Line. Hmm...I wonder if the line would have been called the Madison Avenue-Fourth Avenue line if the IRT went with that plan instead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted February 25, 2015 Share #80 Posted February 25, 2015 Hmm...I wonder if the line would have been called the Madison Avenue-Fourth Avenue line if the IRT went with that plan instead... Was there a 3rd Ave plan? It seems more "Central" to the Upper East side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTA1992 Posted February 25, 2015 Share #81 Posted February 25, 2015 Was there a 3rd Ave plan? It seems more "Central" to the Upper East side. The streets studied were Lexington Avenue and Madison Avenue. Third avenue was considered in later plans by Daniel Turner for a 6-Track line to replace the Third Avenue Elevated. Lexington Avenue was chosen because it provided the best connection to the existing subway. There were studies done to decide the best street for the line to run. It was decided that between the 2nd and 3rd Avenue Els, the 3rd Avenue El was more crowded. Madison Avenue and Lexington Avenue were then studied. Lexington Avenue was decided based on two reasons: The first was the thought that Madison Avenue was too close to Central Park and therefore the residents of those areas were not in as much of a need for rapid transit as the more crowded residents closer to Lexington Avenue. The second was that due to Lexington Avenue being a the planned route of the Tri-Borough subway, the consent of the residents and business owners were already obtained. This was better as opposed to wasting at least two year trying to obtain the right to use Madison Avenue. Adding to that, better connections could be made with the existing subway. In IRT President Peter Shonts' words: "Lexington Avenue can be tunneled at once!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted February 26, 2015 Share #82 Posted February 26, 2015 I wonder how a 6 track line under 3rd Ave would have been. If it was actually built then they definitely wouldn't be bothering with a 2nd ave subway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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