New York's Greatest Unbuilt Project

Last week, I expounded briefly on the importance of regional intercity transit. In truth, this is but one of what should ideally be a three-level national transit network:

Level 1: National Intercity Rail (and High-Speed routes)
Level 2: Interlocking Coordinated Regional Commuter Rail
Level 3: Efficient Local Mass Transit

At this moment, the National Railway Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is our only attempt at Level 1 transit. It can be considered a success ONLY in that it has just turned 35 in spite of having been set up to fail. National long-distance passenger rail is a joke, and high-speed service is a fantasy. Level 2 transit networks are present around most major cities in the U.S., but for the most part they share the same story of being carved out of failed private companies. Many are mismanaged, underfunded, and continually on the brink of service cuts. Level 3 transit, implemented at the local level, is my main focus today. Namely, a transportation project in New York City that has taken only baby steps off the drawing board in the last 80 years.

I live on the east side of Manhattan, New York, shoulder-to-shoulder with Bellevue Hospital on 1st Ave, and rapid transit availability is inconvenient at best. There was a time when just about every north-south avenue on the island had an elevated train rumbling above it (to replace the streetcars that jammed traffic at grade level). Electric traction motors enabled these trains to move underground, which they did in New York starting in 1904. By the 1920s, the city's Independent Subway was planning a mammoth expansion to replace exting elevated lines in four of the five boroughs. They only got around to a few of them before the Depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the 1970s economic collapse stymied any significant expansion until the 1980s. In 2005, the New York State Transportation Bond Act passed, committing some hefty numbers to construction of a much-needed Second Avenue Subway.

Needless to say, I am still skeptical that I will ever see the project completed in my lifetime. I challenge New York to step up to the plate and meet their 2012 deadline. In demonstrating their recognition of the importance of readily available mass transit, they could set an example for any other city in America with a struggling transportation network. The Second Avenue Subway will be worth the investment--if it is ever completed, that is. The same could probably be said about any number of proposed service expansions in mass transit networks across the country. In realizing this 80-year-old idea, a crucial step will have been taken towards a more mobile future.