Broad Street is the end of the line, presently, for the J. Located in the heart of lower Manhattan, it’s unusual as far as termini go with its 2 side platform setup, and as such its turnaround mechanism is more akin to Ashmont or Wonderland on the MBTA (where trains pull past the station and into a pocket track, then cross back the other way). However, is Broad Street any good like those two stations? Let’s find out.
Broad Street isn’t accessible. Not at present, anyways. However, a proposed skyscraper includes plans to install elevators directly to the platforms, which would in turn make the station accessible (on a line that REALLY lacks accessibility – where the only accessible stops in Manhattan are Brooklyn Bridge/Chambers St., and Fulton St.). The station mezzanine has your usual stuff: ticketing machines, a station agent staffing the place, faregates, the usual. However, there was something I learned about after the fact that I completely missed: there’s an out-of-system transfer between here and Wall Street on the 4/5 lines via a passageway under Pine Street. As for within fare control, J train pulls in, leaves into a pocket track (the tracks also continue through to the Montague Street tunnel, meeting with the R), pulls back out on the uptown platform. There isn’t really anything noteworthy beyond the usual stuff. Yeah, sorry. But, there are some cool things at street level nearby. I’ll talk about it in the “nearby points of interest” section.
The good: It serves the deepest parts of the Financial District! While it may not be as functionally critical as the likes of South Ferry or the World Trade Center station complex, it is in a more central location geographically. However, the area very much does hold significant U.S. history as well.
The bad: I think the worst is that this station isn’t accessible. It’s not useless, as for a considerable amount of people, it’ll get them close to their job as needed, and there ARE touristy places nearby.
Nearby points of interest: The big one is the NY Stock Exchange – which, if you’re into following the stock market (I don’t know how many people reading this do that), it’s kind of a mission-critical place. Also, for the history buffs, this is also the closest station to Federal Hall – which was the location where George Washington was sworn in as the US’s first president in 1789. Unfortunately, it’s not the original building as that got demolished in 1812. Eventually, a custom house would be built on the site, and in 1939 it was deemed a national historic site by the Interior Secretary at the time, and eventually the National Park Service took it over from the Subtreasury. As for other things nearby, well, you have Trinity Church (but the 4, 5, 1, R, and W can get you closer), as well as a bunch of skyscrapers.
Transit connections:
Nassau St./Jamaica (J)
There’s not really much in the way of buses closer to this station than any other, but I’ll talk about the closest bus connections when I cover Wall St. on the 4/5. Yeah, sorry.
Overall, it’s not a bad station. The usefulness is pretty high up there, even if there’s relatively few points of interest unique to this station. But, with how tightly packed lower Manhattan is, everything is ultimately a short walk away anyways.
Rating: 7/10
