Atlantic Terminal

So today is the big day, I finally get to describe Brooklyn’s single largest subway station the Atlantic Terminal. The Atlantic Terminal located at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and 4^th Avenue contains nine subway lines and LIRR service. There are connecting busses, those I am not completely sure of. Above Atlantic Terminal is Atlantic Center, a large indoor urban mall spanning two buildings and immediately adjacent to Atlantic Terminal is the soon to be constructed Basketball Arena for the Brooklyn team that used to be called the New Jersey Nets. Around and inside of Atlantic Terminal are also several notable centers, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower (the tallest structure in the borough), the New York State Office Building named in Honor of ex-Brooklyn congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (one of the best congressional representatives for Brooklyn of all time) are all right across the street from Atlantic Terminal. One can easily access the Manhattan Bridge going up Flatbush Avenue or the Brooklyn Bridge going down Atlantic Avenue before turning at Boerum Place from Atlantic Terminal, both are walking distance. Finally, Atlantic Terminal is also walking distance from the Borough Hall, Courthouses, various universities located in Downtown Brooklyn, and other such important buildings.

Atlantic Terminal most importantly is also a crossroads of Brooklyn in terms of travel, if one goes down Atlantic Avenue, they can get to communities in Central and Eastern Brooklyn, if one goes down 4^th Avenue, they can get to communities in Western and Southwestern Brooklyn, if one goes down Flatbush, they can get to Communities in Central and Southeastern Brooklyn. The only parts of Brooklyn that cannot be accessed directly from Atlantic Terminal on Ground are Williamsburg/Greenpoint (which requires using the BQE or back streets) and the areas further out in the borough which can be accessed from taking streets off of the three above listed roads at the intersection. As Brooklyn’s largest subway station at it’s largest crossroads at a relatively large commercial center, it is fair to say if nothing else that Atlantic Terminal has more importance than any other subway station in the borough by far. The terminal also allows for LIRR service which is located right next to the mall entrance to the subway as pictured below. These trains go to Jamaica Center that I described in a previous blog posting.

I normally get to Atlantic Terminal using the R train followed by the N or D train up 4th Avenue, it all depends on how the trains are running. It is the same route I would take if I were driving because the BQE is a mess of a road that I completely despise. When at Atlantic Terminal, there are a few things I can recommend in looking for the trains, the part of the station that exits at Pacific Street (which is one street south of Atlantic Avenue) is the area where the D, N, and R trains headed to Southwestern and Southern Brooklyn depart from. The part of the station directly under Atlantic Avenue has all of the Numbered Trains running East-West to Eastern Brooklyn (3/4 Trains) and Central Brooklyn (2/5 Trains). The part of the station furthest North closest to the Williamsburg Savings Bank is where the B and Q trains exist, they travel to Southern/Southeastern Brooklyn. There is elevator service at this terminal (I mention this because at Brooklyn’s subway stations, there is much work to be done involving elevator systems) and one often has to go downstairs to go upstairs much of the time. I mention because I think it would be easier if the trains were all on the same level and one merely had to go upstairs to get on and downstairs to get off. I understand why they aren’t all at one level but at the same time, I will criticize the stupidity of having to get down to get up. This sums it up for train service at Atlantic Terminal, I will get into further detail about it’s effectiveness below.

While one can use the trains to go to a destination of choice in Brooklyn, the fact that Brooklyn is larger in area and not as interconnected as Manhattan means that trains from Atlantic Terminal that leave don’t get back together so easily. An example of this is that the three main branches leaving- the B/Qs, the Numerals, and the D/N/Rs, do not join back together unless they end up in Coney Island. This isn’t a problem when the trains are one Avenue or Street away, it is a problem however when they are one neighborhood away. Say one takes the B/Q train towards the east side of prospect park, if a rider wanted to get back on the Numbered trains which are one neighborhood over, the rider has to go back to Atlantic Terminal which is maybe five neighborhoods closer to Manhattan to catch a numbered train. As I previously mentioned when describing the R train in Bay Ridge, Id have to go up to 36^th Street to get to Bensonhurst using the D train even though numerically speaking it is 10 Avenues directly east. Atlantic Terminal is like a River Basin, when the trains separate off the main course, it is a chore to get back on course. The Atlantic Terminal is also the part of Brooklyn they should build additional subway lines in. The whole area of Southeastern Brooklyn east of Ocean Avenue has no subway service with the exception of one obscure L train that goes into Canarsie. A final problem with Atlantic Terminal is that none of the subways here provide any useful service to Northern Brooklyn, to use one of those trains, one must go back into Manhattan and get on a Broadway Junction bound train. When traveling back into Manhattan, the R train and all the Numeral Lines go underground in a tunnel coming into Manhattan near Wall Street and the Staten Island Ferry. The B/D and N/Q lines reunite and travel across the Manhattan Bridge so if one wants to be on the bridge, take those lines.

As I understand the history of Atlantic Terminal, the mall above at Atlantic Center is fairly new and the basketball arena is still being built. I don’t know what the Terminal was like before this was built, I think LIRR trains may have ended above ground in what is now the construction site for the arena and if I understand my history about Brooklyn correctly, the area used to be a rather destitute red light district and open air drug market. Again I don’t know for sure but from what I can tell, much of what appears at Atlantic Terminal seems as if it has not always existed there or rather existed there that long. Whatever the history of it is, the future of it suggests the expansion of Manhattan-like development into Brooklyn. The development around Atlantic Terminal which I believe is known as the Atlantic Yards project has gained both considerable support and opposition, both of which have are justifiable. For me though, Atlantic Terminal is the place that always reminds me I am leaving Brooklyn and going into Manhattan, there are many trains one can take without making another stop in Brooklyn while the trains that do make a few more stops leave one feeling like “How long until I cross into Manhattan” and that comes from me, a declared outer borough resident.

So to close, I add this, Atlantic Terminal is vital to Brooklyn’s subway service but also illustrates the problems with it given it’s stream off pattern of trains that go into the borough.If you are going to Central or Southern Brooklyn, you must go through Atlantic Terminal, theres no two ways about it. If your neighborhood is in that part of Brooklyn and does not have a train that comes from Atlantic Terminal, than your neighborhood does not have subway service. Furthermore if you are one of the residents of Central and Southern part of Brooklyn that needs subway service, than you should petition for a new train that comes out of Atlantic Terminal or comes off of an existing train coming from Atlantic Terminal until a better inter-borough line is built which I personally am in all favor of. This is Atlantic Terminal, these are the facts, these are the opinions, and most of all it is an illustration for you, the prospective Brooklyn bound passenger to understand.