Sixth Avenue Line (Manhattan surface)

The Sixth Avenue Line was a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Sixth Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Central Park. Originally a streetcar line and later a bus route, it has been absorbed into the M5 bus route, which replaced the Broadway Line, as its northbound direction.

The Sixth Avenue Line begins at the South Ferry, and runs north along State Street and then west on Battery Place. It then turns right onto Greenwich Street. Greenwich Street changes names to Trinity Place, and then Church Street. It then bears left onto Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas. It follows Sixth Avenue until its end at Central Park South (West 59th Street).

The Fifth and Sixth Avenues Line (M5/M55) follows the same route as the former Sixth Avenue Line.

The Sixth Avenue Railroad opened the line from Chambers Street and West Broadway north along West Broadway, Canal Street, Varick Street, Carmine Street, and Sixth Avenue to 43rd Street (soon 44th Street) on August 11, 1852; the Eighth Avenue Railroad began using the trackage along and south of Canal Street on August 30. In 1853, it was extended south along West Broadway to the new depot at Barclay Street, and a branch was added on Canal Street east to Broadway. On October 7, 1853, trackage was added on Church Street, Chambers Street, and Barclay Street to form a loop. The grant given to the Sixth and Eighth Avenue Railroads specified that they would run to Broadway and Vesey Street; this extension, in Church and Vesey Streets, was opened by 1865.

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