Lake Merritt
A southbound train at Lake Merritt station in June 2019
General information
Location800 Madison Street
Oakland, California
Coordinates37°47′52″N 122°16′00″W / 37.79777°N 122.26659°W / 37.79777; -122.26659
Line(s)BART A-Line
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
ConnectionsBus transport AC Transit: 18, 62, 88, 96
Bus transport ACMC Highland Shuttle
Construction
Structure typeUnderground
Parking207 spaces
Bicycle facilitiesRacks, 84 lockers
AccessibleYes
ArchitectYuill-Thornton, Warner & Levikov[1]
History
OpenedSeptember 11, 1972
Passengers
20232,826 (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station Bay Area Rapid Transit Following station
West Oakland
toward Daly City
 Blue Line Fruitvale
toward Dublin/​Pleasanton
Green Line Fruitvale
toward Berryessa/​North San José
12th Street Oakland City Center
toward Richmond
 Orange Line
Location

Lake Merritt station is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located east of Downtown Oakland near the eponymous Lake Merritt. The station is served by the Orange, Green Line, and Blue lines. It is the nearest BART station to Chinatown, Laney College, and Jack London Square station.

Station layout

The station has a single island platform located two levels below ground, with a fare mezzanine above it. The station has four entrances from Oak Street between 8th Street and 9th Street.[3]

A largely-unused oval courtyard adjacent to the fare lobby includes reliefs of sea creatures and birds designed by William Mitchell. Now-closed portholes in the reliefs allowed the public to peer into the BART Operations Control Center.[4]: 5  Walls in the station feature tile work in red, black, and off-white by Alfonso Pardiñas.[4]: 4 

History

The BART Operations Control Center, located adjacent to the station

The construction of Lake Merritt station and the adjacent BART Administration Building leveled three blocks of Chinatown – one of several major displacements in the area, along with I-880, Laney College, and the Oakland Museum of California, that took place in the mid-20th century.[5] The station opened on September 11, 1972 – part of the first section of BART to open.[6]

The BART Administration Building was located in a dedicated six-story office building constructed concurrently on top of the station. In 2003, due to potential risk of earthquake damage, the headquarters was moved away from the station to leased space in the Kaiser Center.[7] The former Administration Building was dismantled in 2009 and 2010.[8]

Bathrooms at underground BART stations were closed after the September 11 attacks due to security concerns. The bathroom at Lake Meritt station reopened on June 28, 2022, after a renovation, with an attendant on duty during all operating hours.[9] On September 8, 2022, the BART Board approved plans for a 457-unit residential development to replace the station parking lot, with two additional phases planned.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Cerny, Susan Dinkelspiel (2007). An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area (1st ed.). Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith. pp. 501–502. ISBN 978-1-58685-432-4. OCLC 85623396.
  2. ↑ "Monthly Ridership Reports". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. September 2023.
  3. ↑ "Station Map – Lake Merritt". San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Archived from the original on November 8, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Weinstein, Dave. "How BART got ART". CA-Modern. Eichler Network.
  5. ↑ "Lake Merritt Station Area Plan" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. December 2014. pp. 2–4.
  6. ↑ "BART Chronology January 1947 – March 2009" (PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Board approves purchase of new headquarters saving public funds in future" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. September 12, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Earthquake safety work planned for Lake Merritt Station" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. May 13, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Restrooms now open at Montgomery and Lake Merritt" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 28, 2022.
  10. ↑ "BART Board approves hundreds of homes for Lake Merritt Station" (Press release). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. September 8, 2022.

Media related to Lake Merritt station at Wikimedia Commons


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