A below ground subway connection was considered in 1907.
The deal, worth $366 million then, led to the above ground subway lines in the outer boroughs, and the refurbishment and expansion of those that already existed, well into the rural pastures of Queens, the industrial sectors of Brooklyn, and the growing immigrant communities of the Bronx.
On the bus and above-ground subways in the past week, I have heard in detail about....stock transactions, hospital/doctor problems of someone's sister, food at restaurants and what's for dinner (a dozen times), he did cheat, she didn't cheat, she doesn't love me, I do love him, tutoring prices, vacation plans, and other conversations too boring and annoying to recount.
That would raise safety concerns for bridges, railroads and above-ground subway tracks.
NYC subway The trains are up and running, although some lines are experiencing delays (the above-ground subway stations and tracks are vulnerable to the weather).
Much of the ire here is focused on the deterioration of this capital city's once cutting-edge public transportation system, a bus network called TransMilenio designed to have the feel of an above-ground subway.
It is more like an above-ground subway than a collection of bus routes, with seven intersecting lines, enclosed stations that are entered through turnstiles with the swipe of a fare card and coaches that feel like trams inside.
Opened in 1844, the Cobble Hill Tunnel is the oldest below-ground subway in North America.
The ground zero Subway shop is now atop the chain's list of unusual locations, which include an aluminum smelting plant in New Zealand, an air-conditioner plant in Georgia, car dealerships in California, a church in Buffalo and a riverboat in Germany.
But in the Curbediverse, as the site modestly calls the world whose story it tells, every new building, every architectural misstep, every bit of shoddy construction, every scrumptious Sunday open house and every regrettable ground-floor Subway has its moment on the screen, for all eyes to see.
Now that seeing something and saying something has been demonstrated to be so critically important, it's time that New Yorkers be given the chance to do so below ground in the subways, where we are most vulnerable.
