| Kings Highway | |
| Accessible: | yes |
| Address: | Kings Highway & East 16th Street Brooklyn, NY |
| Borough: | Brooklyn |
| Locale: | Midwood, Sheepshead Bay |
| Coordinates: | 40.6092°N -73.9588°W |
| Division: | BMT |
| Line: | BMT Brighton Line |
| Service: | Brighton |
| Platforms: | 2 island platforms cross-platform interchange |
| Tracks: | 4 |
| Structure: | Embankment |
| Open Date: | original station: |
| Rebuilt: | current station: |
The Kings Highway station is an express station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at Kings Highway between East 15th and East 16th Streets on the border of Midwood and Sheepshead Bay neighborhoods of Brooklyn. The station is served by the Q train at all times and by the B train on weekdays only.
On January 10, 1951, a new entrance to Quentin Road and East 16th Street was opened with a modern station house. The $250,000 project took approximately a year to be completed.[1]
A renovation of the Kings Highway station was funded as part of the MTA's 1980–1984 capital plan.[2] The MTA received a $106 million grant from the Urban Mass Transit Administration in October 1983; most of the grant would fund the renovation of eleven stations,[3] [4] including Kings Highway.
This station underwent reconstruction from 2009 to 2011, which included installation of ADA-accessible elevators to the full-time fare control area and rebuilding of the platforms and station houses. A temporary platform was used to provide service that would normally stop at the closed platform.[5]
| Platform level | Northbound local | ← toward | |
| Island platform | |||
| Northbound express | ← weekdays toward or | ||
| Southbound express | weekdays toward → | ||
| Island platform | |||
| Southbound local | toward → | ||
| Ground | Street level | Entrances/exits, station house and agent, MetroCard machines |
This station has four tracks and two island platforms. The stops here at all times and is local, while the stops here only on weekdays during the day and is express. The next stop to the north is Avenue M for local trains and Newkirk Plaza for express trains, while the next stop to the south is Avenue U for local trains and Sheepshead Bay for express trains.
The two platforms are offset from each other, with the northbound platform located roughly 75feet further north than the southbound platform. It has three fare control areas at street level—two to Kings Highway/East 16th Street and one to Quentin Road/East 16th Street. The two mezzanines at Kings Highway, located directly underneath the subway embankment, were constructed in the original BMT format, but fully renovated in the 1980s, during which two identical sets of porcelain enamel artwork (Kings Highway Hieroglyphs by Rhoda Andors) were installed, one set in each mezzanine.
South of Kings Highway are a series of switches that allow trains to switch from the local tracks to the express ones, and vice versa.[6] Before Brighton signal replacement during the 1990s, a switch tower was in operation about 150feet south of the station, facing the southbound local track; this tower has been abandoned, and control of the switches has passed to a master tower at DeKalb Avenue. During the signal replacement, a new signal electrical tower was installed over the express tracks at the south end of the station.
The entrance on the south side is normally the full-time entrance/exit, containing a turnstile bank, token booth, two staircases to each platform, and one exit-only turnstile from the Coney Island-bound platform. The one on the north is HEET access only, containing three turnstiles, a staircase to each platform and its MetroCard Vending Machines were installed on the sidewalk.[7]
The part-time Quentin Road station house, located to the east of the embankment, has a turnstile bank, part-time booth, and two staircases to each platform. It was built after the station's opening to accommodate growing passenger flow as evidenced by its newer-style tiling and signage. Platform extensions are clearly present at the north end of the station. It has a token booth, turnstile bank, and two staircases to each platform with the southbound side requiring a short walk.[7]
