In the 2010s and 2020s, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced plans to make the station ADA-accessible and to reopen closed exits.

[4] The groundbreaking for the line was held on April 16, 1929, at Fulton Street and Arlington Place, located at the site of the future station.

Shortly after, the NYCBOT began work to allow entry the staircases,[10] which was completed on July 24, 1950 after a change booth and turnstiles were installed.

[17] The rest of the mezzanine was closed on an emergency basis in April 1991, after the NYCTA, on March 28, 1991, ordered the closing of the 15 most dangerous passageways in the subway system within a week following the rape of a woman behind a pile of debris in a passage connecting the 34th Street–Herald Square and 42nd Street–Bryant Park stations under Sixth Avenue on March 20, 1991.

[18][19] The locations were chosen based on crime volume, lighting, traffic and physical layout, and were closed under the declaration of a public safety emergency.

With the closure of the crossover, during late nights, when the part-time booth to the Queens-bound platform was closed, passengers would use the existing high entrance and exit turnstiles.

[17] On February 17, 2005, transit workers found two trash bags on the station's tracks, which contained the body parts of 19-year-old Rashawn Brazell, a Bushwick resident who had been reported missing three days earlier.

The report concluded that if additional capital funding was provided, or if the Federal Transit Administration's interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) reverted its original flexible approach, reopening closed entrances at Nostrand Avenue would become more feasible.

[28]: 37–38  The report stated that reopening the Bedford Avenue entrances would reduce congestion at the Nostrand Avenue entrance, reduce uneven loading on A and C trains, and cut the walking distance for riders going to and from areas west of Arlington Place - including bus riders.

It also found that opening the unopened entrances at Arlington Place and Fulton Street to the northbound platform would provide similar benefits at a lower cost.

The work comprised the installation of lighting and turnstiles, the rehabilitation of stairways, the scraping and repainting of areas, the repairing and replacement of tile, and the construction of new sidewalk entrance structures.

[38] Directional captions are present below some of the name tablets, though many of the ones pointing to the previously closed Bedford Avenue and never opened Arlington Place entrances are painted over.

[17] The Manhattan-bound upper level has a third unopened fare control area to both northern corners of Arlington Place and Fulton Street.

[28][43][44] This fare control area is located behind a tiled wall with a door near the railroad north (geographical west) end of the Manhattan-bound upper-level platform.