Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Av
The Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights is the one intermediate express station on the Queens Blvd Line, one of the most heavily used and crowded subway trunk lines. The station, in addition to serving the large surrounding shopping district of Jackson Heights, is also a major transfer point for passengers between express and local train along with the 7 train, whose local station at 74 Street-Broadway is located on its elevated structure above the station. Six bus routes connect two surrounding areas without subway service, most of which begin and end in the station's covered bus loop and layover area just outside the main station building entrance at street level. These bus routes include the LaGuardia Link Q70 Select Bus Service, that provides a non-stop ride to LGA Airport.
To facilitate this the station has two relatively narrow by IND standards (there narrow because Broadway, the street the station is beneath is a relatively narrow street) for a busy transfer point island platforms for the four track line. A full length mezzanine that is almost still completely open with the exception of a small section of it at the extreme eastern end, albeit only the portion above the Manhattan-bound platform, the mezzanine also gets narrower here because the street is narrower. Here some sort of non-public area has been carved out of the mezzanine and has been fully tiled over as part of the stations recent renovations. The mezzanine has a number of glassed off areas along it, that are deisgned to be underground store fronts and include some Bank of America ATMs, and Backwoods a Women's clothing store that also has a branch at the 42 Street-Port Authority Subway Station's mezzanine. There used to be a music store and a florist but these shops didn't survive the drop-off in subway ridership caused by COVID-19.
The station's renovations were completed in 2005. This also brought it (as well as the elevated Flushing Line Station up to ADA full accessible standards). For decorations the white tiled walls of the underground mezzanine have a single dark blue tile trimline towards their tops. This single tile has a narrow black boarder (perhaps a quarter of the size of a regular tile) above and below. On the local track walls is a trimline of three dark blue tiles with a black boarder, beneath it, two tiles down are tiles that spell out Roosevelt, white text on black tile. These name tiles also have a black boarder. While the station was being renovated the platform walls were replaced with this and not designed to be fully faithful to the 1930s traditional IND design, trim line name tiles would never have had a boarder and don't in any other station.
Now onto the extensive list of station exits and transfer staircases/escalators that lead up through the street and into the air of the Flushing Line's elevated along the full length mezzanine. Staircases up from the platforms up to this mezzanine won't be mentioned, there are seven down to the Manhattan-bound platform, and eight down to the Jamaica-bound platform. We begin at the mezzanine's western (railway southern) end. Here, right at the end of the mezzanine, towards the mezzanine's southern side is bank of three escalators and a staircase that lead up through the street and into the air, to a small mezzanine level beneath the Flushing Line's tracks, with staircases up to each platform. This was the original transfer corridor before the building of the 2005 station house.
At this end of the mezzanine is also a part-time staffed entrance/exit, with a large bank of turnstiles (open when the agent is on duty between 6:15am and 9:15pm, Monday-Saturday, and Sunday from 12:15pm to 7:30pm), there also some High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles, and High Exit Turnstiles that provide the only access to this exit when the token booth and turnstiles are closed. This exit leads to a street stair on the SE corner of Broadway and 73 St, (it's a five-point intersection, 37th Road ends at it providing the fifth point), as well as one that is set back from the street to be along storefronts along the northside of 37 Road, just after it begins at this intersection.
Continuing down the mezzanine we pass the Bank of America ATMs and reach its middle. Here there is a pair of High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles lead to a single street stair up to the SE corner of Broadway & 74th Street. Across from this secondary exit is the main, triple-wide large 'grand staircase' that leads up to the surface and the station's main headhouse, that along with the covered bus loop and turnaround area take up the entire odd-triangular shaped block that Broadway, Roosevelt Avenue, 75th Street and a tiny bit of 74th Street form. This is where the 24-hour token booth is along with doors to the outside world along Broadway, Roosevelt Avenue and directly out to the bus loop. (Photos of this section of the station are here). ADA access is also here in the form of elevators down to each IND platform. The Forest Hills/Jamaica-bound platform has its own elevator that just connects that platform with the lower mezzanine level, while the Manhattan-bound platform elevator has a landing at the lower mezzanine level and continues all the way up into the station's headhouse, and for connections to the 7. To provide an additional way for transferring passengers between the subway and elevated to bypass having to go through the main station entrance a pair of escalators lead directly from this mezzanine level, through the sidewalk just outside the station house, and up to the main elevated upper mezzanine level beneath the 7 line's tracks. There is also a pair of Men's and Women's Restrooms (open the standard 5am to Midnight) along the IND mezzanine here.
Continuing down the mezzanine there is an additional exit that is at station's eastern end, beyond where some sort of crew use has taken a bite out of the mezzanine, and the last staircase down to the Forest Hills-bound platform is, it's a bit of a farther walk to reach the staircases to the Manhattan-bound platform. Here the mezzanine slopes up a bit to three High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles that lead out to eitherside of Broadway on the west side of 75 Street.
Photos 1-4: June 4, 2009; 5 & 6: July 22, 2009; 7-29: July 28, 2009; 30: March 18, 2004; 31-40: November 2, 2012; 41-46: September 3, 2023; 47-55: September 4, 2023; 56-60: Novemer 25, 2023;
Station Subway Lines (2001-2010)
