116th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

History

The station opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND)'s initial segment, the Eighth Avenue Line between Chambers Street and 207th Street. Construction of the whole line cost $191.2 million (equivalent to $ million in . While the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line already provided parallel service, the new Eighth Avenue subway via Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard provided an alternative route.

The station was planned to be rehabilitated as part of the 2015–2019 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Program. As part of its 2025–2029 Capital Program, the MTA has proposed making the station wheelchair-accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Station layout

This underground station has four tracks and two side platforms. The platforms have name tablets reading "116TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a midnight blue background and black border, but no trim line. Small direction and name signs reading "116" in white lettering on a black border run at regular intervals. There are blue I-beam columns that run along both platforms at regular intervals with every other one having the standard black station name plate in white lettering.

Each platform has one same-level fare control area at their extreme south ends. Each one has a turnstile bank and two staircases to the street. The southbound platform has a token booth while the northbound platform does not, having been closed in 2010 and removed several years later.

There are no crossovers or crossunders between the two platforms. As a result, this station and 135th Street are the only two stations on the Eighth Avenue Line north of 59th Street that do not permit free transfers between opposite directions.

Exits

The exits on the northbound platform go up to either eastern corners of 116th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard while the exits on the southbound platform go up to either western corners.

Both platforms also had a part-time entrance/exit at the north end to both northern corners of 118th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, with the northbound platform's entrance/exit leading to the northeastern corner and the southbound platform's entrance/exit leading to the northwestern corner.

Nearby points of interest

• East Campus at Columbia University
• Morningside Park

References

References

1. (September 10, 1932). "List of the 28 Stations on the New 8th Av. Line". [[The New York Times]].
2. {{NYCS const. timetable. a
3. {{NYCS const. timetable. b
4. {{NYCS const. timetable. c
5. (September 10, 1932). "Gay Midnight Crowd Rides First Trains In The New Subway: Throngs at Station an Hour Before Time, Rush Turnstiles When Chains are Dropped". The New York Times.
6. Duffus, R. l. (September 9, 1932). "New Line First Unit In City-Wide System; 8th Av. Tube to Ease West Side Congestion at Once -- Branches to Link 4 Boroughs Later. Last Word In Subways Run From 207th to Chambers St. Cut to 33 Minutes -- 42d St. Has World's Largest Station. Cost Has Been $191,200,000 Years of Digging Up City Streets, Tunneling Rock and Building Road Finally Brought to Completion.". The New York Times.
7. (December 11, 2015). "Review of the A and C Lines". [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]].
8. (September 25, 2024). "2025-2029 Capital Plan". Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
9. {{NYCS const. trackref. trackbook3
10. {{Cite NYC neighborhood map. Morningside Heights