Rockaway Avenue
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Southbound platform
Station statistics
Address	Rockaway Avenue & Fulton Street Brooklyn, NY 11233
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Bedford–Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill
Coordinates	40°40′42″N 73°54′39″W / 40.67823°N 73.910823°W / 40.67823; -73.910823
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Fulton Street Line
Services	A  (late nights) ​   C  (all except late nights)
Transit	NYCT Bus: B7, B25, B60
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	April 9, 1936; 87 years ago (April 9, 1936)[2]
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2022	988,760[4]  18%
Rank	286 out of 423[4]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Ralph Avenue A  ​C  toward 168th Street Local Broadway Junction A  ​C  toward Euclid Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Ralph Avenue to Broadway Junction
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only

The Rockaway Avenue station is a local station on the IND Fulton Street Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street in Brooklyn, it is served by the C train at all times except nights, when the A train takes over service.

History

When it opened on April 9, 1936, Rockaway Avenue was the terminal for IND Fulton Street Line.^[2] During this time, there was a diamond crossover between the express tracks north of the station and trains stub ended here. Between the express and local tracks in the area of the crossover were extra columns to support the subway ceiling to make up for the lack of columns that would have between the express tracks, which were not built due to the installation of the crossover. The crossover switches were controlled from a tower at Utica Avenue. The outlines of the now painted out crossovers and signals can still be seen. The levers are also still in place on the machine, but are now painted yellow and are no longer used. Meanwhile, at the nine-car stop marker on the southbound local track, there is a short section of ballasted type 1 track on both express tracks where the bumper blocks were located; when Broadway Junction opened, the temporary wooden platform extension was removed from the northbound local track only. Southbound trains continued on the express track south of Utica Avenue to the diamond crossover between the express tracks north of Broadway Junction. Trains then used this crossover to cross to the northbound express track (and another crossover to get to the local one). They then returned to either northbound track at Broadway Junction to resume service to Manhattan.

Construction on the Fulton Street Line east of Rockaway Avenue halted in 1942 due to World War II restrictions on materials. The entire tunnel infrastructure east of Euclid Avenue, including the Pitkin Yard and the yard leads, was completed, but rails and signals were not installed and Broadway Junction only had its tile completed. The tile work there is the last of the old style; Tile work at the stations east is of a more modern type. Track and signals were completed into Broadway Junction in 1946 and to Euclid Avenue two years later.

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent, MetroCard machines
Platform level	Side platform
	Westbound local	← toward 168th Street (Ralph Avenue) ← toward Inwood–207th Street late nights (Ralph Avenue)
	Westbound express	← does not stop here
	Eastbound express	→ does not stop here →
	Eastbound local	→ toward Euclid Avenue (Broadway Junction) → → toward Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue late nights (Broadway Junction) →
	Side platform

This is a four-track station with two side platforms. Both platforms have a maroon trim line with a deep maroon border and mosaic name plates reading "ROCKAWAY AVE." in white sans-serif lettering on a deep maroon background and maroon border. Small tile captions reading "ROCKAWAY" in white lettering on a black background run below the trim line, and directional signs in the same style are present below some of the name tablets. On the mezzanine level, directional mosaics point towards the platforms. Both platforms are column-less except near the fare control areas, where they are painted maroon.

Exits

The station has three exits. The full-time one is at the west (railroad north) end of the platforms. This exit has two staircases on either side of Fulton Street at Hopkinson Avenue or Thomas S. Boyland Street that lead to a small mezzanine. There is one staircase to each platform here and transfers between directions are allowed.^[5]

The other exits at the other side of the station are at platform level and unstaffed. They both have two street staircases that lead to Rockaway Avenue, but the one on the Euclid Avenue-bound platform is exit only, containing one full height turnstile, while the one on the Manhattan-bound platform has two high entry/exit turnstiles and one exit-only turnstile.^[5]