Intervale Avenue
Intervale Avenue is a local stop on the Lower White Plains Road Elevated Line. It has become the unique egg of the line, as it is the only station left that has corrugated metal windscreens. All other stations on the line were renovated between 2004 and 2010, having all traces of their corrugated metal windscreens removed and replaced by the new green and cream windscreen design. Intervale Avenue hasn't been touched because it was fully rebuilt in the early '90s after an arson fire burned the station mezzanine down on March 15, 1989 as 3 men tried to rob the token booth. The MTA attempted to use the fire as an attempt to close the station permanently (the stations on the White Plains Road Line are very close together) but after community uproar the station was fully rebuilt and modernized, re-opening on April 21, 1992*. This three year period wasn’t the first time trains didn’t stop in this area, the stop initially opened only April 30, 1910 as an infill station designed to service local businesses while the rest of the elevated line opened in November 1904.
The modern standards at the time were fully corrugated windscreens that encompass both platforms blocking all views of the surrounding area. Large modern speakers are placed above the windscreens at regular intervals. Lights are of the squarish early '90s design. The station mezzanine has the similar 1990s design with black walls and opaque glass cubes to allow some natural light on. The station will stand out as the station on the line with corrugated windscreens for years to come.
The stop is also unique because it is by far the highest on the lower portion of the line, this is due to the fact that Intervale Avenue is located in a small valley in the hilly Bronx and the builders of the subway kept the elevated at a level grade, not following the topography of the street brelow.
To leave the station, each platform has a single staircase down to a small mezzanine area with glass squares allowing diffused light to enter the station. To exit the street level there is are street stairs to the NE and NW corners of Westchester Avenue and Intervale Avenue (Westchester Avenue at this point is going SW to NE, but Intervale goes due north to south). There is also an escalator for entering passengers only that was closed (in January 2011) temporarily on the NE corner that is fully enclosed with some glass windows allowing natural light onto the escalator. This escalator, the first in the Bronx at a subway station, was part of the original station when it opened in 1910, paid for by local real estate developers.
1-5: January 29, 2005; 6-18: January 3, 2011; 19-24: February 24, 2013
Arts For Transit at Intervale Avenue
The El 2 and the El 5, 1992, Glass Mosaic
By Michael Kelly Williams
