169th Street

The 169th Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 169th Street and Hillside Avenue in Queens, it is served by the F train at all times, the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction, and a few rush-hour E trains to Jamaica–179th Street during p.m. rush hours. 169th Street station opened on April 24, 1937, as the terminal station of the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line. This station was once heavily used because of the many bus connections available for riders heading further east within Queens. It became the closest subway station to the 168th Street Bus Terminal after the closure and demolition of the nearby 168th Street BMT station on Jamaica Avenue in 1977. Ridership at 169th Street station declined significantly following the opening of the Archer Avenue lines in 1988.

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), and was planned to stretch between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 178th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The line was first proposed in 1925. Construction of the line was approved by the New York City Board of Estimate on October 4, 1928. On December 23, 1930, the contract for the construction of the section between 137th Street (now the Van Wyck Expressway) and 178th Street—Route 108, Section 11—was let. This section included the stations at 169th Street, Parsons Boulevard, Sutphin Boulevard, and Briarwood. As planned, Parsons Boulevard was to be an express stop, while the other three stations, including 169th Street, would be local stops. The contract for this section was awarded to Triest Contracting Corporation. The line was constructed using the cut-and-cover tunneling method, and to allow pedestrians to cross, temporary bridges were built over the trenches. The first section of the line opened on August 19, 1933, from the connection to the Eighth Avenue Line at 50th Street to Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights. Later that year, a $23 million loan was approved to finance the remainder of the line, along with other IND lines. The remainder of the line was built by the Public Works Administration. In summer 1933 work on this station and 169th Street were completed, far ahead of schedule. In 1934 and 1935, construction of the extension to Jamaica was suspended for 15 months and was halted by strikes. Construction was further delayed due to a strike in 1935, instigated by electricians opposing wages paid by the General Railway Signal Company. In April 1936, William Jerome Daly, the secretary of the New York City Board of Transportation, stated, in response to requests for a stop at 178th Street, that constructing a station at that location would prevent express service from operating past 71st Avenue. He said that with a final station at 169th Street, express trains could run to Parsons Boulevard, and that if the line was extended to Springfield Boulevard as planned, express service could be extended past 178th Street with a yard east of the new terminal. In August 1936, construction to Forest Hills was expected to be completed by the end of the year. While the tracks were installed all the way to 178th Street, the stops to the east of Union Turnpike still needed to be tiled, have stairways, turnstiles and lighting installed. Two additional contracts remained to be put up for bid, both the results of last minute changes. One of the changes concerned the line's eastern terminal. Initially, express trains were planned to terminate at a station at 178th Street. However, the plans were changed to terminate the express trains at Parsons Boulevard, requiring the installation of switches. Since construction of the tunne

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