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Fulton Street Tunnels

Today's Fulton Street subway complex is a warren of tunnels and passageways, stairwells and storefronts, confusing to visitors and residents alike. The current complex serves fourteen routes in seven stations, and it was built over twenty-seven years by three different companies or agencies (the IRT's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 services; the BMT's J, M, N, R, and Z; and the IND's A, C, and E). This map shows the current configuration of the Fulton Street complex (source, MTA): The MTA is in the process of designing a new Fulton Street Transit Center that will add new connections and tunnels, streamline and beautify existing connections, and introduce new retail opportunities to Lower Manhattan. Eventually, a straphanger could ride the 2 or 3 to Fulton and William streets and walk west through the passageways all the way to the World Financial Center's Winter Garden. As Times reporter David W. Dunlop writes, in Midtown terms, that's roughly Times Square to the Chrysler Building. Dunlop describes the tradeoffs involved in designing such a complex:

But underground concourses (like skyways in other cities) are not an unmixed civic blessing. If they are simply unadorned passages, they can be bleak and discouraging. If they are filled with stores, restaurants and other amenities, they can drain life from the streets.

The new complex will cover ten million square feet of space over twelve acres, says Joseph J. Seymour, of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The new complex will connect to the rebuilt WTC and link the MTA to the new PATH station. This map, from the Times article, shows the configuration of the new complex: Other improvements include a new centralized gateway, improved street access, and a new passageway under Dey Street. Construction of the Transit Center is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, with completion expected by 2007.