Union Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)

Union Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)

Union Street is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Union Street in Brooklyn, New York City, serving the communities of Park Slope, Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. It is served by the R train at all times except late nights, when the D and N assume local service along Fourth Avenue.

This underground station, opened on September 13, 1915, has four tracks and two side platforms. The center express tracks are used by the D and N trains during daytime hours. A black and white curtain wall separates them from the local tracks.

Each platform has one same-level fare control areas in the center. As a result, there is no free transfer between directions. The Manhattan bound side has a fare control area, a turnstile bank, token booth, and two street stairs. The one on the Manhattan-bound platform goes up to the southeast corner of Union Street and Fourth Avenue while the one on the Bay Ridge-bound platform goes up to the southwest corner. The Bay Ridge-bound side has a fare control area, a turnstile bank, (no token booth because of MTA cutbacks), and two street stairs.

Both platforms are columnless except for a section at their extreme north ends, where they were extended in the 1950s to accommodate the standard length of a "B" Division train (600 feet). Here, the columns are cream colored I-beams.

This station was renovated twice. The first time was in the late 1970s, which including repairing the staircases and platform edges, replacing the incandescent lighting with fluorescent lighting, and replacing the original platform wall tiles and mosaic signs with cinderblock tiles that are colored white except for where the platform signs (in the standard white letting and black background) are. Here, they are colored gray.

This station was renovated again from 1990-1994. In addition to upgrading the same elements that were replaced in the previous overhaul, tiling on floors and track walls, the public announcement system, and safety threads along platform edges and track-beds were replaced. It also included an art installation by Emmett Wigglesworth called CommUnion. It features twenty-two panels of various designs in the recessed area of the platform tiles above the station signs and other designs on the openings in the track walls.