Canal Street station (New York City Subway)

The complex has a total of 13 staircase entrances and 2 separate elevator entrances for the Lexington Avenue Line's platforms.[5]

The BMT Nassau Street Line platforms had two additional exits. One exit was accessible only from the now-abandoned eastern platform and had two staircases to the southeastern corner of Canal Street and Centre Street.[6] The other exit, now converted to an emergency exit and crew rooms, is accessible from the passageway to the abandoned platform from the northbound BMT Broadway Line express platform. This exit leads to the northeastern corner of Canal Street and Centre Street, and features a provision for an escalator.

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  The station used to have skylights to let natural light in (1905)
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  Terra-cotta plaque by Heins & LaFarge / Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, 1904
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  Name tablet by Heins & LaFarge / Manhattan Glass Tile Company, 1904

Track layout
to Prince St to City Hall Storage tracks

Canal Street on the Main Line has four tracks and two side platforms. Only the outer local tracks, provide through service via the Montague Street Tunnel. The center tracks, which have never seen revenue service, begin at the unused lower level of City Hall and run north to here, dead-ending at bumper blocks about two-thirds of the way through. The center tracks can be used for layups, but this use has been completely made redundant with the nearby City Hall lower level being used as a layup yard instead.[11]

As part of the Dual Contracts, these center tracks were to have continued up Broadway, fed by traffic from Brooklyn and the Montague Street Tunnel; local service was to have terminated at the upper level of City Hall. That plan was dropped prior to the line's completion. A new plan favored local service via City Hall's upper level, reconstruction south of that station to join the local tracks with the rest of the line and express service via the Manhattan Bridge. Thus, City Hall's lower level was abandoned during construction and never placed in service. Today, just north of this station, the actual express tracks coming off the Manhattan Bridge curve north, rise up and replace the stub-end center tracks from City Hall's lower level.

In the late 1960s, New York City Transit extended the platforms for 10 car trains. The Main Line station was overhauled in the late 1970s. The original trim lines were replaced with white cinderblock tiles, except for small recesses in the walls, which contained blue-painted cinderblock tiles. The staircases were repaired and new platform edges were installed. The blue cinderblock field contained the station-name signs and white text pointing to the exits. The renovation also replaced incandescent lighting with fluorescent lighting.

In 2001, the upper level received a major overhaul before the Bridge level reopened. Among the repairs included the staircases, re-tiling for the walls, new tiling on the floors, upgrading the station's lights and the public address system, installing ADA yellow safety treads along the platform edges, new signs, and new track beds in both directions.

Track layout
Unbuilt Canal St. crosstown line to Prince St (local) or 14 St (express) to DeKalb Av (Brighton Line) or Atlantic Av (4th Av Line)

Canal Street on the Manhattan Bridge route has two tracks and two side platforms. When it originally opened, this station was known as Broadway. Although technically located on the BMT Broadway Line, it was originally a distinct station from the main line, as the two stations were not directly connected. It is located on the lower level and oriented perpendicular to the other portions of the complex. East of the station, the tracks cross the south side of the Manhattan Bridge to enter Brooklyn. West of the station, the bridge tracks curve to the north, and ramp up between the tracks from the local upper level platform to form the express tracks.

Under the Dual Contracts, this station was meant to be part of a crosstown line under Canal Street, running from the Manhattan Bridge to the Hudson River, or towards West Street; however, prior to the opening of the Broadway Line, the BMT decided to route Manhattan Bridge traffic to the Broadway express tracks instead. After the lower level tracks curve north from the Bridge Line platforms, the tunnel continues straight ahead, past the diverge to the main line. The bellmouths going westward from the west end of the station are a provision from the original plans and run for about 100 feet. Also, sitting on one of the trackways is a storage building.

The original tile on this station read simply "Broadway" and there was a small either wood or metal sign attached to the wall beneath the tile name that read "Canal Street." Like the Main Line station, the Manhattan Bridge platforms were overhauled in the late 1970s. It received similar improvements, including blue-painted cinderblock tiles, new staircases and platform edges, and new lighting.

With the exception of three months in 1990, train service to these platforms was suspended from 1988 to 2001 during the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction project. The platforms remained open for passengers transferring between the other routes, since they were the only connections between the other platforms in the complex. Service between Manhattan and Brooklyn was redirected to the Main Line platforms and used the Montague Street Tunnel. The three-month period was supposed to have allowed train service while work on the bridge was not being done, but on December 27, 1990, the discovery of missing steel plates and corrosion that threatened the bridge's integrity halted this service.[18][19] In 1997, a temporary art exhibit known as the Canal Street Canal by Alexander Brodsky, was installed on the northbound trackway. It consisted of a large waterproof tub filled with water, with Venetian canal boats floating inside.[20] The platforms reopened on July 22, 2001 with new tiling on the floors, upgraded lights and public address system, ADA yellow safety treads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions.

East of this station are disused trackways leading to the north side tracks of the bridge, which trains from these platforms used to travel on. These tracks were disconnected with the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in 1967 and no longer have rails or any other infrastructure.[15]

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  Main Line platform
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  Mosaic on Bridge Line platform
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  Name tablet mosaics
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  A permanent art installation titled Empress Voyage February 22, 1794 (1998) by Bing Lee. This is in a passage leading to the Bridge Line platform.