Construction and opening

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, with a stop at Elmhurst Avenue.^[4][5] The line was first proposed in 1925.^[6] Construction of the line was approved by the New York City Board of Estimate on October 4, 1928.^[7] The line was constructed using the cut-and-cover tunneling method, and to allow pedestrians to cross, temporary bridges were built over the trenches.^[8]

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.^[9] Later that year, a $23 million loan was approved to finance the remainder of the line, along with other IND lines.^[10] The remainder of the line was built by the Public Works Administration.^[11][12] In 1934 and 1935, construction of the extension to Jamaica was suspended for 15 months and was halted by strikes.^[13] Construction was further delayed due to a strike in 1935, instigated by electricians opposing wages paid by the General Railway Signal Company.^[14] The chief engineer of the Elmhurst Avenue station was Robert Ridgway and the design engineer was Aaron I. Raisman.^[3]: 8

In August 1936, tracks were installed all the way to 178th Street, and the stations to Union Turnpike were completed.^[13] On December 31, 1936, the IND Queens Boulevard Line was extended by eight stops, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km), from its previous terminus at Roosevelt Avenue to Union Turnpike.^[15][16][17] The E train, which initially served all stops on the new extension, began making express stops in April 1937,^[18] and local GG trains began serving the extension at the time.^[19]

Later years

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The opening of the Elmhurst Avenue station resulted in the development of Elmhurst as a commercial and residential neighborhood.^[3]: 8 This station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 6, 2005, as structure number 05000672.^[20][21]

Exits

There are five entrances to the station in total, two on the northwestern end of the mezzanine and three on the southeastern end.^[3]: 4

The staircases to the street are at either end of the mezzanine. On the northwest (railroad south) side, one staircase goes up to the southwest corner of 82nd Street and Broadway while another goes up to the southwest corner of Britton Avenue and Broadway. At this end, there are two exit-only turnstiles from the Forest Hills-bound side of the mezzanine and two High Entry-Exit Turnstiles from the Manhattan-bound side.^{[3]: 5 [32]}

On the southeast (railroad north) side of the mezzanine, there are two staircases going up to either southern corner of 45th Avenue and Broadway. Another goes up to the northwest corner of Elmhurst Avenue and Broadway, which is built within a store front and goes through a small underground shopping arcade. On this side, there are two exit-only turnstiles and one High Entry-Exit Turnstile from the Forest Hills-bound side and two High Entry-Exit Turnstiles from the Manhattan-bound side.^{[3]: 5 [32]}

Nearby infrastructure

The Elmhurst station on the Long Island Rail Road's Port Washington Branch was about one block to the south of this station before it closed in 1985.^[33]

Between this station and Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, there are holes on the tunnel's ceiling, which accommodate the never-used tunnels coming from the Roosevelt Avenue station's unused upper-level terminal.