Another highlight of the IND Second System was the IND Worth St Line. The Worth St line would have been fed by 8th Av Line trains and would have fed to other major IND Second System lines, making it a key component of the whole plan.
Provisions were built for the IND Worth St Line during both original IND 8th Av line and IND 6th Av line construction, though this post will focus on the provisions constructed on the 8th Av line.
Bellmouth on northbound track
These provisions (empty tunnel bellmouths within the active tunnel) would have allowed the line that terminates at Chambers St-World Trade Center, currently the (E) line, to instead continue East across Worth St, through a new crossriver tunnel, and through the S 4th St station hub and under Myrtle Av or Stuyvesant Av and Utica Av in Brooklyn. This new subway in Brooklyn also would have been fed by trains coming from 6th Av, through the provision for a crossriver to Brooklyn at 2nd Av.
The state of this place today is not unlike other IND Second System provisions, being dark and water damaged in some areas. In this tunnel, the tracks split into two levels, in order to allow the (E) to move into its own terminal platform and the (A) and (C) to continue to Brooklyn on their own separate platform. The southbound (C) merges onto the (A) express track, while the (E) local track sinks underneath and crosses below the southbound and northbound express tracks to come up adjacent to the northbound local track. The provision for the Worth St line extends from both local tracks on both levels, the upper level one (shown) being slightly shorter than the lower level.
Technicalities aside, the Worth St Line and various Brooklyn lines it would have fed would have greatly benefitted the city, and it’s a shame that a combination of unfortunate circumstances prevented their construction, along with most of the Second System. Today, these lines and provisions still hold relevance, as the MTA and the public have recently reopened discussion of a Utica Av subway in Brooklyn, with the MTA reviewing the feasibility of extending the IRT Eastern Parkway Line in Brooklyn south down Utica Av (the IRT also included a provision for a Utica Av line at the Crown Heights-Utica Av station—but that is a story for another series). Unfortunately, I don’t think we will ever see any of these proposed lines constructed, certainly not any time soon. However, it is nice to appreciate the ambition that the city once had for new subway construction at a time by admiring the forward thinking construction of the IND “First System” lines.
