161 St-Yankee Stadium
161 Street-Yankee Stadium elevated station is the first elevated station on the 4 train with trains zooming underground just south of the station. It was the first part of the station to open on June 2, 1917. The station was built as a local stop with just two side platforms for the three track elevated subway line, although regularly scheduled express service has very rarely been operated along the Jerome Avenue elevated.
The original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 (across the street from the current 3rd-generation Yankee Stadium), raising the stations importance. The Concourse Line of the IND opened on July 1, 1933. This subway line was built to potentially replace and compete with the Jerome Avenue elevated, since there is a B,D, subway stop within a quarter mile of all elevated Bronx 4 train stations except the most northern two: Woodlawn and Mosholu Parkway.
The station itself was renovated in early 2000s to make the complex fully ADA compliant with 5 elevators in the entire complex. As part of these renovations, the side platforms received not full height green windscreens that have some openings between the advertising panels and allow some views to the entrance plaza at Gate 6 and the outside of the new Yankee Stadium whose right field wall runs alongside the Manhattan-bound track north of the station. The platforms are canopied and partially windscreened from the southern end of the platforms to about one car from the northern end of the platforms. At the very northern ends of the platforms there is just a low fence.
The station's main, and only exit on non-game days, into Yankee Stadium, is towards the southern end of the platforms (be in 3rd car from the back of an Uptown train) and is on an area of the platform clad in concrete across quite wide 161 Street (which has two median islands). From here two staircases and an elevator lead down to the upper mezzanine area, the elevator from the Woodlawn-bound platform continues down through the street and underground to the IND's underground mezzanine area. The elevator has an intermediate landing at the upper landing to allow passengers from the Manhattan-bound platform elevator to exit the station via this passengers. Passengers wanting to exit 4 trains at 161 Street, must go down to the IND subway mezzanine, go through the turnstiles and then ride a street elevator back up to surface.
The main mezzanine feels like it could be underground because it tiled with some glass block walls in certain areas. In the middle of the mezzanine is a wide bank of turnstiles (now unstaffed) that lead out to four staircases accessed via narrow little passageways down to medians of wide 161 Street at all 4 corners with River Avenue, these streetstairs are clad in white tile. Transferring passengers have a passageway along the south side of the mezzanine where two escalators and a staircase lead down and through the street (in between the service roads and main roads of 161 Street) to the B/D train's underground mezzanine, along with a further passageway (wrapping around the fare control area) to the main elevator up to the Woodlawn-bound platform and down to B/D trains and the accessible exit.
For Yankee Games (and New York Football Club games until they move to a soccer specific stadium next to Citi Field) there is a special event entrance/exit that is open on game days only across 161 Street from the current Yankee Stadium. This entrance/exit was originally at the closest point to the original two Yankee Stadiums (from 1923 until 2008) from the 4 train platforms. Two wide staircases lead down from the Manhattan-bound platform that each split into 4 shorter staircases at intermediate landings, leading down to a mezzanine area that is not enclosed with just fencing for walls beneath the Manhattan-bound platform and the SW corner of River Avenue and 161 Street. On the mezzanine are two narrower passageways that lead underneath the tracks to two staircases (one at the extreme southern end, one right near the start of the staircases down to the full time exit) up to the Woodlawn-bound platform.
To reach the street are two separate banks of turnstiles that each lead out to separate (there is a within fare control passageway between them) outside of fare control areas that each lead down to two staircases to the street (all 4 are in a line with each other) at the SW corner of River Avenue and 161 Street. These staircases down to the street are directly below the 4 staircases up to the Manhattan-bound platform.
Photos 1-5: December 19, 2003; 6-8: August 15, 2005; 9-11: August 16, 2008; 12-30: January 3, 2011; 31-37: June 11, 2011; 38-50 & 84-85: October 10, 2012; 51-68: October 12, 2012; 69 & 70: September 30, 2013; 71-80: August 18, 2007; 81-83: June 4, 2009;
