Transportation
The futureNYCSubway: Post War Expansion
In my last post I outlined the ambitious plan to massively expand the New York City subway system. For various reasons (the Great Depression, World War II, rise of suburbia, etc) the plans were, for the most part, never realized. After World War II many plans were scrapped as limited resources were diverted to building new highways. Some minor expansion took place but the system also lost many miles of track as older elevated lines were removed.
In 1968 the city developed a new, much less ambitious, plan to expand subway service and rebuild aging infrastructure. In an unfortunate case of history repeating itself the city immediately faced a financial crisis causing the plans to be scrapped and subway service to be cut. For the next 20 years the city planned, for the first time ever, to decrease in size and services. It wasn’t until the 1990s, when the population stabilized and the economy of the city began to grow, when serious plans for expansion were brought back. This post covers subway expansion from the end of World War II up to the present.
The futureNYCSubway: Introduction
Those who follow the MTA closely will scoff at the ideas for such a fantastic expansion but like with the futureMBTA, these ideas are not based on political reality, rather they are presented to stir the mind and to inspire future leaders and city officials of the possibilities. Today, the City of New York has recovered from the population drain of the late 20th Century and now boasts a larger population than ever before with up to a million new citizens expected to move into the city in the next generation. In the past 30 years the city has planned for a reduction of population and services. Now the city needs to plan for expansion. This will take time and it is because of this I think that now is the right time to share my ideas and maps.
This is just the introduction to a series of posts I plan on writing explaining the history of subway expansion in NYC, first with an analysis of the famous IND Second System, a close look at the long history of the Second Ave Subway and my first new map of the SAS System, and finally my plans for new lines into Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
More futureMBTA reader submissions
I just posted some more fantastic read submissions to the futureMBTA. Head over and check them out. Great work guys, keep them coming!
