In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station as one of 69 stations in dire need of renovation. A renovation of the Burnside Avenue station was funded as part of the MTA's 1980–1984 capital plan. The MTA received a $106 million grant from the Urban Mass Transit Administration in October 1983; most of the grant would fund the renovation of eleven stations, including Burnside Avenue. Among the things that were done to the station during that time included a painted orange platform edge in addition to the yellow platform edge that was originally on each platform. New, corrugated signposts were installed and spaced evenly on the platform; these bore the station name in white lettering against a black metal sign (the font used for the signs was Akzidenz-Grotesk; it was first used as the agency's font prior to renovation).
