161 St-Yankee Stadium
161 Street-Yankee Stadium also called 161 Street-River Avenue on all name tablets, which was the original name of the subway station when it was opened by the IND (with Yankee Stadium a footnote on subway maps). The station is the busiest subway station in the Bronx. It provides a connection between B and D trains running underground and the 4 train on its elevated structure above (which the Concourse line is within just a few blocks of all the way to Bedford Park Blvd and was designed to replace this 'outdated' elevated structure, a project that never actually happened).
The station is a Concourse line local stop with two side platforms for the 3 track subway line. Express D trains bypass the station during Peak direction rush hours, although they will generally stop at the station during Yankee Stadium game days and other special events. There are switches off of the Express tracks onto the local tracks just before the station after the Concourse Tunnel, and switches back onto the Express tracks between 167 and 170 Streets.
The station was extensively renovated from 2000 to 2002 and became ADA compliant, this included replacing all platform tiling with new 'replica' designed tile. Previous renovations in the 1970s had led to large, blue 161s on the platform walls. Each platform has a yellow trimline with a black border. Name tablets at say 161st St-River Ave, on a black background with a yellow border. The trimline has no 161s written beneath it at regular intervals like a regular IND station. As part of the station's renovation Wall-Side added unique protruding and receding walls to make the station feel like its an archeology site, which even includes some slabs of subway tiles and unique benches at street level, and along both platforms. This artwork and renovation also gave the station a unique feature where the tiling is inverted by the staircases up from the platform to the mezzanine with these staircase lined with solid yellow tile, with a white trimline including a black boarder, this feature provides some unique contrast.
The station opened with a full-length mezzanine connecting both station exits over the eastern half of the platform. The center of this mezzanine area, between the two exits, is no longer a continuous passageway open to the public with a police substation built in the middle of it. Some additional mezzanine to platform staircases were also closed when the police station was added.
The main mezzanine area above the middle of each platform contains three staircases in quick succession up from the Manhattan-bound platform. By these staircases are Red Signs that say Avoid Crowding, Use all Train doors, to try and get passengers to walk farther down the platform after Yankee games. The Bronx bound platform has two staircases arriving at a landing directly between the staircase and two escalators that rise up through the ground in the south median of the wide boulevard that is 161 Street (it has the outside local lanes for each direction and middle express lanes design with two medians) up to the 4 train's mezzanine above.
Right near what would be a single bank of turnstiles if the middle of them wasn't split into two by a ramp that leads upward are 4 of the 5 elevators in the station complex, (the fifth is only above ground and part of the 4 train station). On the southern side of the mezzanine is the Uptown platform elevator, its in the simplest location. The downtown platform elevator would be outside of fare control if it wasn't for a short fenced off passageway within fare control to it. It is the same for the elevator up to the 4 train's mezzanine (at an intermediate landing) and Woodlawn-bound 4 train platform. This elevator really makes its presence known with a gentle ramp leading up splitting the turnstiles in the fare control area into two before it starts right in the middle of the mezzanine; at a higher level than the rest of the mezzanine. This ramp is required because the elevator needs a certain amount of space below its lowest landing, and the elevator had to be built directly above the Express track. This elevator leads up to the surface through the northern median of 161 Street. The street elevator is nearly right next to the elevator (with a fence in between) to the elevator to the Downtown platform and leads up to the NE corner of River Avenue and 161 Street. This street elevator is the only elevator in the station complex outside of fare control and is required for ADA access to both the 4 train and B,D trains. Entering 4 train riders needing step-free access are required to take an elevator down to the subway station, pass through fare control and then riding a different elevator back up through the street to the elevated station’s mezzanine (with connections to a final elevator up to the Manhattan-bound 4 train platform) or straight up to the Woodlawn-bound platform.
The rest of the subway exits from this mezzanine are through a passageway that leads to the south of the mezzanine, first at the start of this passageway is an exit only staircase (extra wide for Yankee games) from the Uptown platform that leads up to a High Exit turnstile and a gate (later replaced by two emergency exits) that is open during Yankee games, monitored by a special event MTA employee and/or police officers so everyone can leave the subway faster and don't have to pass through the High Exit turnstile. This passageway continues first to a streetstair up to the SE corner of River Avenue and 161 Street before continuing to two streetstairs up to the SW corner of 161 Street and River Avenue. These streetstairs once led directly to the NE corner of the old Yankee Stadium. The 'House that Ruth Built' opened in 1923 was renovated between 1973 and 1975 before being closed in 2008 and turned into Heritage Field, a city park with baseball diamonds. The new Yankee Stadium, which feels like if you took the old Yankee Stadium and plopped it in Las Vegas, it has nostalgic features from the old stadium but otherwise feels too perfect and sterile, opened across 161 Street from the old stadium in 2009, on the site of where a public park, Macomb’s Dam Park was located, with Heritage Field designed to replace the lost park land. The new Yankee Stadium is located at the corner of the one intersection of River Avenue and 161 Street that lacks a subway entrance, requiring all baseball fans to cross a street to reach it.
The station's secondary subway exit is located at the eastern (northbound) end of both platforms. This exit provides access to the Bronx Courthouses and the Bronx Borough President's offices. Here a single streetstair leads up from the northern end of each platform to a small still open portion at the end of the mezzanine. A small fare control area with unstaffed turnstiles (this fare control area was part time when a token booth was required for turnstiles with no real space for High Entrance/Exit turnstiles) leads to a short ramp that leads upward to a fairly unique station exit. There is first an opening out to the sidewalk, in daylight just before the sidewalk along 161 Street's block-long underpass of Walton Avenue and the Grand Concourse. The underpass is under Lou Greig Plaza. The passageway continues to a flight of steps followed by two streetstairs up to the NW corner of 161 Street and Walton Avenue.
Photos 1: December 19, 2003; 2-5: August 16, 2008; 6-26: January 3, 2011; 27-30: October 10, 2012; 31-34: September 30, 2013
