86th Street station (Second Avenue Subway)
The 86th Street station is a station on the first phase of the Second Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Second Avenue and 86th Street, in the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side in Manhattan, it opened on January 1, 2017. The station is served by the Q train at all times, limited southbound rush hour N trains, and one northbound A.M. rush hour R train. There are two tracks and an island platform. The station was part of the original Second Avenue Subway as outlined in the Program for Action in 1968. Construction on that project started in 1972, but stalled in 1975 due to lack of funding. In 2007, a separate measure authorized a first phase of the Second Avenue Line to be built between 65th and 105th Streets, with stations at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets. The station opened on January 1, 2017, as an intermediate station along Phase 1. Since opening, the presence of the Second Avenue Subway's three Phase 1 stations has improved real estate prices along the corridor. The 86th Street station was used by approximately 8.4 million passengers in 2019. The station, along with the other Phase 1 stations along the Second Avenue Subway, contains features not found in most New York City Subway stations. It is fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, containing two elevators for disabled access. Additionally, the station contains air conditioning and is waterproofed, a feature only found in newer stations. The artwork at 86th Street is Subway Portraits, a selection of twelve face portraits by painter Chuck Close. History Background The Second Avenue Line was originally proposed in 1919 as part of a massive expansion of what would become the Independent Subway System (IND). Work on the line never commenced, as the Great Depression crushed the economy. Numerous plans for the Second Avenue Subway appeared throughout the 20th century, but these were usually deferred due to lack of funds. In anticipation of the never-built new subway line, the Second and Third Avenue elevated lines were demolished in 1942 and 1955, respectively. The Second Avenue Elevated had one station at 86th Street and Second Avenue—right above the same intersection where the subway station is located—while the Third Avenue Elevated had two stops on nearby Third Avenue at 84th Street and 89th Street. Unrealized proposals The Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed a full-length Second Avenue Subway as part of its 1968 Program for Action. The line was to be built in two phases—the first phase from 126th to 34th Streets, the second phase from 34th to Whitehall Streets. The line's planned stops in Manhattan, spaced farther apart than those on existing subway lines, proved controversial; the Second Avenue line was criticized as a "rich man's express, circumventing the Lower East Side with its complexes of high-rise low- and middle-income housing and slums in favor of a silk stocking route." There was to be a station at 86th Street, but