Prospect Avenue
Prospect Avenue is a local stop on the White Plains Road Line that has been recently renovated in the mid-2000s. The stop opened on November 26, 1904 making it one of the oldest IRT elevated lines still in service (used only by the second Avenue el until 1905 when the IRT Broadway Express Line was extended to the Bronx). This makes the elevated much closer to the street than those built ten years later. This means that the station houses are directly along each platform and not on a mezzanine as is typical for most elevated stations built ten years later, this means the station lacks a free change of direction transfer. Only the center of the platforms are canopied and windscreened. The ends of the platforms are exposed to the elements with historic looking and repainted low walls to the platforms that still have their ornamentation. The station houses have historical ornamentation too. The stop is located at a strange six-way intersection because Westchester Avenue is an anomaly in the street grid at the intersection of Westchester Avenue, Prospect Avenue and E 160 Street/Longwood Avenue (changes name and angle in the intersection).
For access on the Manhattan-bound platform has two staircases: One from the NW corner of E 160 St and Prospect Avenue, this staircase is at an odd angle to the elevated and station house due to street grid. The second is from the south angled intersection of Prospect and Westchester Avenue and is parallel to the elevated line. These lead up and into separate entrances on either side of the small station house where turnstiles lead out to the platform. There are also High Exit Only Turnstiles for passengers leaving the station directly at the staircases allowing them to bypass entry into the station house. The station house has lots of windows out to the street and the outside's decorative features have been restored.
On the Dyre Avenue/Wakefield-241 Street-bound platform two separate street stairs lead up to the same side of the station house from the NE corner of Westchester Avenue and Longwood Avenue. There is a High Exit turnstile that allows exiting passengers to skip entry into the station house. To enter the system passengers must enter the station house and use the bank of 3 turnstiles, there is also a now permanently closed (on April 4, 2010) Customer Assistant Booth. There is a tiny area beyond fare control to wait for trains inside before the four doors out to the platform. There is a third exit staircase that leads directly off the elevated at the railroad southern end of the canopied section of the platform to the southern angled corner of Westchester Avenue and Prospect Avenue.
1-5: December 28, 2006; 6-24: January 3, 2011;
