2. Myrtle Ave


Closed in 1956, Myrtle Ave subway station used to run on the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit line between Manhattan Bridge and DeKalb Avenue. The DeKalb Ave section ran into a lot of problems as it was the chokepoint for the entire BMT Broadway subway operation, “with a lot of merges and some routings crossing others at grade in the switches on both sides of the station,” writes Joseph Brennan. The entire area was rebuilt in 1956, and this caused Myrtle Ave to lose its southbound platform. The northbound platform still exists, but has been closed ever since.
An artwork called Masstransiscope by Bill Brand is located in the abandoned Myrtle Ave station. Installed in 1980, the piece works like a giant zoetrope. When the train moved, riders would see an animated cartoon, not 228 hand-painted images. The piece was restored in 2008 and 2013. You can view the video here to experience art in moving transit.
You can view this by  taking the Manhattan bound B or Q trains departing from DeKalb Avenue.

Planned Subway Routes in Brooklyn

1. Utica Avenue Line

Beginning at Essex Street on the F line, the Utica Avenue line would have run to the South 4th Street stop mentioned above where the Underbelly Project is, and then would have turned south down Utica Avenue. There’s a tunnel east of the Second Avenue F train that was built for this proposed line.

2. Brooklyn Queens Connection

The upper level of the Roosevelt Avenue station was built for this line that would have connected Brooklyn to Queens. Wouldn’t this have been handy…

3. Cross-Forest Hills Connector

4. 2/5 Lines Completed

The 2 and 5 lines were supposed to go all the way to Sheepshead Bay, rather than just Brooklyn College where it ends today. A tunnel was built, up to 100 feet, until the project was put on pause.

5. Staten Island to Brooklyn Link

A proposed subway to connect Staten Island and Brooklyn would have followed by path of the Verazanno Bridge underwater.

6. D Train to the East Bronx

This plan would have continued the D train after Norwood-205th Street ending at Boston Road and Baychester Avenue.
For more abandoned transit, check out:

7 of NYC’s Abandoned Subway Stations: City Hall, 18th St, Worth Street, Myrtle Ave, 91st St

9 of NYC’s Abandoned and Incomplete Subway Platforms and Levels

5 of NYC’s Never Completed or Barely Used Ghost Subway Stations

Trolley Ghosts of the Abandoned Essex/Delancey Williamsburg Bridge Rail Terminal in NYC

All maps from WNYC. Get in touch with the author @untappedmich.