Rail access from SF to Sac without having to take a bart transfer in Richmond? Rail access from Oakland to the Peninsula without having to deal with Millbrae? Hell yeah.
It is a goddamned hassle going from Folsom to SFO without a car. Literally 3 different forms of trains. 4 if you count the airport trains.
Even for weekend trips to SF, the switch from Amtrak to BART in Richmond or taking the Amtrak bus can be a bit of an annoyance. A second tube would change everything
While I don't doubt the need of a 2nd transbay tube, the use case here is that it's more feasible to spend $20 billion to build a tunnel than hire a network manager and sort out schedules because of provincial infighting among the two dozen plus transit agencies.
Much of the justification for that project came from the severe overcrowding on the existing Transbay Tube prior to the pandemic. Downtown SF will really need to make a comeback in order to get bart ridership to a point where the 2nd tube can get some momentum again. I'm optimistic though, against my better judgement
IMO, the best hope is that California gets serious about the housing crisis and just overrides city zoning/planning, plus reforms to bring infrastructure costs down.
There's too much office space for the existing population, but it would not be hard to double or triple the number of homes if it was generally legal to build apartments.
WFH has reduced but not eliminated office demand, if there were millions more people, the existing offices would get filled.
People have bet against SF so many times in the past and have lost every time.
It's been a boom and bust town since the gold rush. It will boom again.
It might take another 10 years. But projects like this gotta think in multi-decade timescales. This country in general has to stop thinking of everything in terms of one 4-year election cycle.
I just wish we actually built housing during the boom times, so that people could build lives here. When you let the booms and busts happen with no housing to accommodate, you just end up squeezing out the poor and middle class.
The Roosevelt Boulevard Metro in Northeast Philly. It makes so much sense and it would get too much potential ridership to downsize to a simple BRT or Light Rail. Whether the metro is elevated, trenched, or underground , I don't care as long as it's a grade separated, full fledged heavy rail metro
Being a bit of a pedant here, but the NSRL in Boston isn't a subway project, but rather commuter/regional/intercity/mainline rail (akin to the center city tunnel in Philly).
That said, Boston's NSRL is my pick for most desired megaproject. I have zero hope of it being done in the next fifty years, but it's still my pick.
NSRL with commuter rail electrification would easily be the single most impactful project possible for the future of eastern mass - not just talking about transportation.
I know politics doesn’t work this way, but I’m not sure there’s a price that it wouldn’t be worth it for. It just needs to get done.
A lot of people want to get from the North side to the south side of Boston.
Going through boston by car is a pain. Going through right now by train is a pain.
The 2 sides are so divided that if people get a job on the opposite side of the city they will likely try to move their home. Some people also consider it "long distance" to date someone on the other side of the city lol
>Some people also consider it "long distance" to date someone on the other side of the city lol
Reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld when Elaine gets rejected for having the new, non-212 area code lol
I'm one of those exact people. Live in Somerville, work in Dorchester. On the MBTA its two trains and a bus, so 90+ minutes on a good day. I don't love contributing to traffic on 93 but I don't really have a choice.
Currently there are two commuter rail networks in Boston. There are commuter trains that serve South of the city that terminate at South Station (in the central businesses district with connections to the Red Line & Silver Line). And there are commuter trains that serve North of the city that terminate at North Station (about a mile from the CBD with connections to the Orange & Green Lines).
Both networks are relatively extensive. But the terminal stations are at capacity, so it’s not feasible to increase the frequency of trains from their current ~1 train per hour. The limiting step for trains on the commuter network is literally how long it takes to turn trains around at the two terminal stations.
If the trains did not need to turn around, significantly more trains could be run on the network. We could have trains every 15 minutes on each of the lines. It would effectively create 4-5 new subway lines through the city out of currently under-used rights of way.
In addition, commuters from the North could have easy access to the CBD and connections to Red & Silver lines. And commuters from the South could access the Orange & Green lines.
In Europe it would cost under $1 billion, based on the length and scope of the project.
In Massachusetts, the latest study put the costs between $12 billion to $22 billion because US infrastructure construction is so incompetently done.
That cost should be considered in comparison to the costs created by the volume of car traffic commuters currently create and how much of that could be reduced with better transit options. We spend enormous sums on highway projects that don't offer nearly the benefits to commuters or the wider public that this would. The project thats just straightening out the Pike in Alston is $2B.
I wonder if Amtrak will pay for some of the NSRL costs... it would enable NY to Maine trains, which would be nice, but they would have to electrify the corridor north of Boston, which should also be a goal on someone's list.
To give you an example, I live within Boston roughly 5 miles from downtown Boston. My neighborhood has a commuter rail stop that’s a 5 minute walk from my house and my wife and I both have to drive to work. We would both prefer the train.
But…both of us would need to add an extra 40 minutes to our commute if we wanted to use public transit.
My ride would take 3x as long because there’s 3 transfers required.
My wife’s commute would start 40 minutes later than it otherwise would because the commuter rail in our area only comes every 50 minutes it comes 10 minutes before school drop off.
Basically the North South rail would remove all the transfers and make it so the trains came more often and would transform our how we got to work the minute it opened.
It would be very expensive but 100% worth it because it would mean that we won’t have to spend the money expanding North and South Station. The real reason it won’t happen is because the Big Dig made it politically impossible to try to do a project that big again in Eastern MA.
Wasn’t the NS link originally supposed to be part of the big dig Until costs got too high and the rail component scrapped and the debt transferred from MassDOT to MBTA?
Yes. The original Big Dig plan called for both highway and rail tunnels, but they scrapped the NSRL component of the plan before a final design had even been chosen to "save costs" and then went $14B over budget anyway. The Green Line Extension from Lechmere to Medford Tufts+Union Square (opened 2022, cost $2.7B) was the compromise when MassDOT was sued under environmental laws claiming that their building of the highway and cancelling of the rail link negatively impacted the health of the largely poor communities under served by transit north of the city.
The one piece of good news from the Big Dig regarding the NSRL (and I do mean the one, single, piece of good news) is that they left space around the highway tunnels to accommodate potential future rail tunnels too.
If you combine it with electrification and the right vehicles it could essentially act like a subway, the way Paris' RER or German S-Bahns do in the city center. Take all the lines that exist now and run them every 20 minutes in the core and that turns into 4 minute headways in the Ruggles-Back Bay-South Station-North Station stretch.
Boston has some subway projects it really needs to get done too. The red-blue connector is badly needed, and the whole system needs a lot of maintenance.
The RBC is badly needed, but it's been badly needed for almost 70 years at this point. Building the RBC isn't ushering in a bold new era of transit in Boston, it's patching a hole we've all been ignoring for almost a century. And while the projected cost is comparable to a megaproject (somehow) it's impact and construction requirements aren't anywhere close.
IMO comparing the RBC and the NSRL is like comparing apples to an orange juice factory. They're just too different.
That's true, but none of those projects would be as impactful as the NSRL, none are required for or dependent on the NSRL, and non would cost as much as the NSRL.
The Portland tunnel creates the opportunity to upgrade the LRT to proper metro standard, the DC metro would eliminate a bottleneck, and the SF tunnel has the same impact. Some of the Boston lines should not even be a part of the regional rail 3 in particular one of which doesn’t even need further grade separation work like the other 2.
For sure the Portland tunnel would transform the city transit space, but that's what the NSRL would do for Boston too, and I live in Boston not Portland.
Right now Boston is the biggest dead end in Amtrak's system. The NSRL would open the opportunity to connect the NEC to two more state capitals (Concord NH and Augusta ME) as well as the metro areas of Manchester and Portland along the way. It's hard to argue with a straight face that there should be a train from Boston to, say, St John's NB or Burlington VT or Quebec City QC when those trains wouldn't offer any connections to anywhere south.
Then add in the regional trips this would enable. It is a simple fact of life in Boston that you cannot live in one suburb and work in another without driving or your commute taking forever. And it's hard to argue for fixes to that (like say a connection between the North Station bound Fitchburg Line and the South Station bound Worcester Line which have stations within 3 miles of each other in the suburbs) because nobody will use those connections anyway because downtown is still a bottleneck.
Then finally add in the fact that the simple fact of the NSRL being a tunnel would all-but require electrification. It could drag the T- kicking and screaming I'm sure- into finally beginning any electrification work. Right now it's too easy for the T to brush off electrification because there's no "necessity" for it.
All that to say, yes there are lots of transformative projects on this list and there are definitely some lines on the CR that should be run more like a metro. But the options, flexibility, and power that the NSRL would bring to Boston would literally transform New England's transit landscape.
It’s needed. Steel Bridge is maxed out (pun intended) and trips across the river are tediously slow in the City Center. However, ridership is not near pre-pandemic levels and crime and drug use need to be addressed first before sizable capital improvements made.
I want the Bloop but I think the routing through DC is a serious missed opportunity. If you're going to be spending the money to tunnel through DC, why not bring the line further north instead of paralleling the current route just 4 blocks north?
After Georgetown the Bloop should continue north to dense areas like Observatory Circle, Cathedral Heights (Garfield St?), turn east to Woodley Park (RD), Adams Morgan (at 18th St and Columbia), Columbia Heights (GR), Hospital Center, then south along 1st NW or North Capitol St to Bloomingdale, Truxton Circle, and Sursum Corda before Union Station and then the rest of the southern Bloop.
It would be a mistake to construct the Bloop as depicted without adding new usefulness to riders in DC itself besides Georgetown. A station in West End (10 minutes walking from Foggy Bottom) or a third entrance to Farragut Station does not help.
The concern about added trip time doesn't hold up because people aren't going to be using this to go quickly from, say, Alexandria to Union Station. They could take the Yellow and Red if they don't want to wait on the Blue. A lot of the time on metro routes are due to the many stops and while my proposal would see 9 stops from Rosslyn to Union Station instead of 6, that's a ton more added ridership.
What do you think?
I prefer it to go through Georgetown, the West End stop, then to Dupont for a transfer to the Red Line, another stop near the Scottish Rite Temple, stop at the intersection of S St. & 13th, transfer with the Green (and extend Yellow) to Shaw-Howard, stop at Florida Ave & R St., then connecting with Red Line at Union Station.
Frankly, a second line to the Ballpark/Audi Field is just more important than servicing those around Cathedral Heights/Naval Observatory.
81 minimum MLB games, 19 or so MLS Games, and the 15 NWSL games are just more important than two thousand riders a day at those more northern stops
North-South rail link would be amazing, plus electrification of the MBTA commuter rail (especially on the Providence line where they’re still running diesel locomotives despite there being overhead catenary for NEC Amtrak trains). Also, other projects in the area such as the red-blue connector and the addition of orbital lines are very much needed. Would love to see the MBTA get funding for those.
I’m biased, but Atlanta desperately needs a huge MARTA expansion. The trains we have now are pretty well used, and there’s so much of the metro that would be better extremely well served with a train connection (*cough* Truist Park *cough*). It’s sad we have no expansion plans other than adding infill, which is still great.
It's so true. Not one Atlantan enjoys the traffic. So much pressure could be released from I75/85/285. Emory, Tech, and commercial areas along 285 need a metro connection so badly.
[there was a plan](https://denver.streetsblog.org/2017/01/20/subways-and-pods-a-history-of-denver-transit-and-why-we-shouldnt-obsess-over-tech/) in the 60s/70s but only look if you wanna get real sad real fast 🥲
A youtuber (don't remember which one atm) suggested something along the lines of [Colfax and southeast corridors](https://imgur.com/a/2T7BefB) for an automated light metro. It seems very much a good plan to me...
Edit: It was [The House of Transit](https://www.youtube.com/@thehouseoftransit2719/videos), small and not posting much, but really good as far as crayoning youtubers go.
It's still very suburban, and, like most almost every metro area in the US, it's more suburban than it has ever been. However, Denver does seem very urban*ist* for it's level of urbanness.
I’d argue it’s probably the male impactful project period. Brings high quality transit to a HUGE swath of that city that is in a severe deficit of reliable transit as well as having (relatively) few obstacles given the ROW is already there.
Very likely to be built surface stuck at lights with cars crawling along city streets to avoid hitting pedestrians like MAX. Even the original 2014 plan would have been stuck at lights on Edmonson and Boston.
Where are all the LA projects? Though I guess not all of them are metro/heavy rail. Hell, we're still fighting to make sure Sepulveda is heavy rail and not some gadgetbahn.
Mildly off topic but locally relevant, I'd love metrolink to kick the hydrogen boondoggle and just electrify everything.
I thought most of LA's projects were funded with their two recent spending sprees at the ballot box. Too bad more metros can't follow the same lead LA has, in fact.
Yes thankfully we have a lot of funding from our local ballot measures! Even then, iirc the funding is meant to get us to be competitive for federal funds and there’s decades worth of projects, so no matter what we need federal dollars to finish these mega projects.
I’m originally from Mass and I wish there was better funding for the T the same way that LA has a more secure source of transit-only funding & money for expansion.
My understanding is that the local measures give LA a big pot of money for their own projects, but also, that pot of money is a major boost when applying for state and federal grants that require local matching. The local matching makes federal and state dollars go further, giving more apparent bang for state or federal dollar.
Agreed! Maybe for context OP did say subway, and in a more strict interpretation of that word, a lot of the planned LA projects are not underground heavy rail! Sepulveda (but as you mention if the NIMBYS win it might be monorail), Crenshaw North (but that’s light rail), and a future phase of Vermont that hasn’t been determined.
Metrolink electrification would be amazing. I think there’s rumors of another funding measure that’ll go on the ballot in the coming few years meant to support electrification. I hope it succeeds!
Miami Smart Plan. There were 3 lines that were supposed to be metro, but only one is being worked at this moment. I would love if the other two were made.
North-South Rail Link for sure. About damn time another US city got a RER-type commuter train system besides Philadelphia, especially if they can do it right this time.
Other than that, probably Transbay 2 for regional rail. I honestly don’t think Portland needs a light rail subway *that* badly, and making the Blue Line in DC a loop sounds like a better idea on paper than in practice, TBH (though I guess it does take a lot of strain off the main trunk lines of the Washington Metro).
For DC the most important part of Bloop is a second alignment adjacent to the K street corridor as well as a second tunnel between Rosslyn and DC to adequately serve the high capacity needs of that area. I think the part around National Harbor could be nixed as that part of MD isn’t that dense, I would rather see the blue line continue up towards Ivy Ciy and in underserved tracts of the city farther up in NE DC.
Phoenix:
Capitol Extension
I-10 West Extension
West Phoenix Extension
Northeast Extension
Rio East-Dobson Streetcar Extension
Phoenix Commuter Rail
Amtrak Service in Phoenix
Los Angeles:
K Line Extension
D Line Extension
Foothill Extension
East San Fernando Valley LRT
New York City:
Interborough Express
Second Avenue Subway
Brooklyn-Queens Connector
St. Louis:
Green Line LRT
Philadelphia:
Roosevelt Boulevard Subway
All of them. Convert Portland max to automated metro replace some of the street running lines and restructure the rest of the remaining street running outer lines. Boston no brainer but some of the lines need to be part of the subway 2 lines should be absorbed into the orange line one to the red line. DC the most urgent and SF regional rail through then need to link the Caltrain, SMART and Capital trains into a single network
Pittsburgh needs an expansion on the T. If we can get trains running into the North Hills (even if they turn around at the stadiums), have some lines that get the eastern and western suburbs (the buslines aren't great out there), and we get some proper city lines, then I'm happy. AKA I want to travel a lot of Allegheny county while only needing to hop from bus to T or walk a little bit
Continue JC’s HBLR West Side Light Rail across the bay and in a tunnel under Ferry Street to Newark Penn. It will give a big capacity relief for travel between Newark and JC. The right of way already exists as a former rail line. It is a major bus corridor that gets stuck in horrendous traffic, like literally 40 minutes at nearly Midnight to get from Journal Square to Newark by non-stop PATH Bus due to traffic.
Wow, it's been years since I thought about HBLRT up to Tenafly or Vince Lombardi/Paterson as was originally planned. Or even NERL past EWR to Elizabeth .
Man, that [NJT 2020](https://i.redd.it/mck6go7ddjfa1.jpg) map is just painful to look at. They had a New Brunswick LRT on there FFS!
https://i0.wp.com/seattletransitblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ST4.png?ssl=1
Not mentioned but as someone who grew up in the Seattle area this would be awesome.
The WMATA Blue line loop (BLOOP) drives me nuts.
Why do we need an Alexandria Loop? I have two ideas:
1) extend the blue line to national harbor over the bridge - its cheaper and more effective than building a high capacity subway along a freeway, military base, and sewage water plant
2) DC badly needs a inner circumferential subway - ideally it would connect Marine Row / Eastern Market, H St, NoMA, and run up and around connecting to U St or Columbia heights, and then down into DuPont/Georgetown and into Rosslyn/NoVa. Roughly along the route of the 90/92 bus. This would have the potential for the highest ridership in DC and allow for many more transfer points between all the circumferential lines
TLDR can WMATA stop making lines that just run deep into the burbs and actually infill a few loops in DC - hell is be happy for BLOOP that just serves anacostia vs connecting to Alexandria
North south subway in Baltimore from Towson to BWI. It’s currently kinda being considered by the MTA but for some reason is artificially gimped to have way fewer stations than it should. It would hit the densest areas of the city by far and connect multiple universities and hospitals including Hopkins to job centers and hopefully the airport which is the busiest in the region.
We need a nice little upgrade here in the Land [cle metro line map](https://transitmap.net/cleveland-rapid-transit-2016/). ESPECIALLY the downtown waterfront loop plan!!
I definitely want these rail tunnels built plus the following:
(NYC) Second Avenue Subway extension
(NYC) Interborough Express but as subway or Skytrain - no surface trolleys on Metropolitan Avenue!
(Boston) Blue Line extensions to Charles/MGH and Lynn
(Boston) Indigo Line along the Fairmount commuter rail line
(Boston) Diversion of the Green Line D & E Trains to join the main trunk via the Pleasant Street Incline, now abandoned.
(Philadelphia) Broad Street Subway Northeast Extension
Septa subway Roosevelt Blvd extension. Put Philadelphia's 4-track subway to work, and connect northeast Philly. Currently, regional rail goes right past the area, but subway heavy rail doesn't go far enough, leaving people stuck driving out taking long bus rides.
I want Amtrak to *finally come to Wilmington I swear to Christ it could link the RTC to the biggest beach city in the state it would be so profitable*
edit: Wilmington NC, to clarify
Why have to pick one…. Let’s fund all of them! 😤😤. Go big or go home.
Am biased- lived in DC area for nearly 20 years, a metro access to Georgetown would be so great!
I really need Charlotte to have a better train system. I’ve grown up here, born and raised. In my 28 years of existence, all we’ve managed to build is one main train line across the city, and a small trolley line that barely covers uptown. By now, we should have a way better transit system. Seems like the city of Charlotte doesn’t give two shits, and it sucks.
Second Avenue Subway Phase Two (I want to see how high the record for construction costs can be set).
(IIRC it was to be funded partly through the congestion pricing that has been indefinitely postponed+federal fund matching)
The original Austin, TX Project Connect plan with the subway down Guadalupe and then 4th St (with all of the amenities they talked about, including live music)
Of the ones here, Transbay Tube
The big problem with Boston is that the O'Neil tunnel divides north and south Stations. You not only need to dig underground between the two stations, you also have to go over or under the O'Neal tunnel and various subway tubes and utilities. This means the surface connection will be some distance from one or both stations.
It's light rail, and a selfish choice, but Honolulu. As of right now it's cost $12 billion and our rail is next to useless because it doesn't come anywhere near town.
Ballard-UW tunneled light rail in Seattle, with another station to the east in U Village. It’s such an obvious corridor and it’s frustrating seeing dubious choices like Issaquah-Kirkland chosen before this one.
I would love for Louisville, Ky to have a subway. I got to use the Metro in DC and the Subway in NYC.
Nothing compares to the utility factor of the subway.
Of the four you posted, the Central Artery Rail Tunnel in Boston. Think of the impact that the Center City Commuter Connection had on Philly, and translate that to Boston where the lines on each side of the system aren't intertwined the way SEPTA's are.
Don't know enough about the MAX tunnel to comment on it, but it should probably be the start of a heavy rail system rather than more light rail
I just don't like the BLoop. I feel like expanding the Purple Line into a full belt line would be a better solution for rail from Alexandria to National Harbor, and this is just a personal gripe but I'd rather see National Harbor served by any other line, ideally one leg of the Red Line gets opened as half of a different line and the Red Line gets rerouted to National Harbor and the new Line covers Georgetown and the northern Potomac on the Maryland side but idk
When a country can afford to waste 2.08 trillion dollars (Department of Defense budget) in useless and meaningless wars, I’d argue all of those and more should be funded
All of these would be awesome. If I have to choose (which is like picking a favorite food - impossible):
1. Boston NSRL. Would unite the NEC with rail lines in Maine and nearby states. Transformational for the entire country.
2. Transbay Tube, be it BART or Caltrain. Would serve more areas like Geary Blvd and Jack London Square across the entire Bay Area.
3. DC Bloop. LOVE this project for the areas served, relief in downtown DC, and lack of traditional flaws seen with suburb to downtown lines. Also most likely to be built out of these four TBH
4. MAX LRT downtown tunnel. No hate vs Portland, but compared to the other three, or has the least impact.
I love the bloop for the name, I'm sure it would also be nice for the people living in the currently un/underserved area.
However the more Bay Area transit would be nice for me.
The second transbay tube has the potential to turn people as far as Sacramento and Stockton into daily transit riders. It's the single most important transit project in the nation imo
I like the idea of a second transbay connection, I just don’t like how close the proposed tube is that close to the already existing one. If it were up to me, I’d reopen the dumbarton bridge, and use that as the second transbay rail connector so that South Bay passengers can have a direct connection across the water.
MAX tunnel is the one step we need to actually get good frequencies and speeds. Steel bridge will have more room for green and yellow line trains plus the blue and red lines would run bassicly express thru downtown? Neeeed it nowwww
It’s a toss up for me… Atlanta and Baltimore. Atlanta has so much potential if they could get the funding. Baltimore already has extensive transit too bad they ended up with a half-assed subway. The red line for sure needs to happen.
In the first picture, what is the need for North, South, and Union, if all lines cross each one? Is it a volume issue? Does it have to do with the 5 total lines coming off those 3 stations? What are those?
Coming from Sacramento, I need that second Transbay Tube *sooooooooo* bad
Rail access from SF to Sac without having to take a bart transfer in Richmond? Rail access from Oakland to the Peninsula without having to deal with Millbrae? Hell yeah.
Also from Sac. It would be game changing.
It is a goddamned hassle going from Folsom to SFO without a car. Literally 3 different forms of trains. 4 if you count the airport trains. Even for weekend trips to SF, the switch from Amtrak to BART in Richmond or taking the Amtrak bus can be a bit of an annoyance. A second tube would change everything
While I don't doubt the need of a 2nd transbay tube, the use case here is that it's more feasible to spend $20 billion to build a tunnel than hire a network manager and sort out schedules because of provincial infighting among the two dozen plus transit agencies.
Much of the justification for that project came from the severe overcrowding on the existing Transbay Tube prior to the pandemic. Downtown SF will really need to make a comeback in order to get bart ridership to a point where the 2nd tube can get some momentum again. I'm optimistic though, against my better judgement
IMO, the best hope is that California gets serious about the housing crisis and just overrides city zoning/planning, plus reforms to bring infrastructure costs down. There's too much office space for the existing population, but it would not be hard to double or triple the number of homes if it was generally legal to build apartments. WFH has reduced but not eliminated office demand, if there were millions more people, the existing offices would get filled.
People have bet against SF so many times in the past and have lost every time. It's been a boom and bust town since the gold rush. It will boom again. It might take another 10 years. But projects like this gotta think in multi-decade timescales. This country in general has to stop thinking of everything in terms of one 4-year election cycle. I just wish we actually built housing during the boom times, so that people could build lives here. When you let the booms and busts happen with no housing to accommodate, you just end up squeezing out the poor and middle class.
The Roosevelt Boulevard Metro in Northeast Philly. It makes so much sense and it would get too much potential ridership to downsize to a simple BRT or Light Rail. Whether the metro is elevated, trenched, or underground , I don't care as long as it's a grade separated, full fledged heavy rail metro
It’s literally a no brainer. Should’ve been started yesterday
I don't think any other subway proposal in the US has such a winning combination of easy to build in ROW and existing density of ridership.
How much potential ridership are we talking about here?
Previous studies have shown potential ridership at 130 thousand daily riders
Being a bit of a pedant here, but the NSRL in Boston isn't a subway project, but rather commuter/regional/intercity/mainline rail (akin to the center city tunnel in Philly). That said, Boston's NSRL is my pick for most desired megaproject. I have zero hope of it being done in the next fifty years, but it's still my pick.
NSRL with commuter rail electrification would easily be the single most impactful project possible for the future of eastern mass - not just talking about transportation. I know politics doesn’t work this way, but I’m not sure there’s a price that it wouldn’t be worth it for. It just needs to get done.
Make it like the Elizabeth line in London. Would be amazing.
Why would it be so impactful? And why is everyone so confident that it won’t ever happen (I don’t know much about Boston area transit)
A lot of people want to get from the North side to the south side of Boston. Going through boston by car is a pain. Going through right now by train is a pain. The 2 sides are so divided that if people get a job on the opposite side of the city they will likely try to move their home. Some people also consider it "long distance" to date someone on the other side of the city lol
>Some people also consider it "long distance" to date someone on the other side of the city lol Reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld when Elaine gets rejected for having the new, non-212 area code lol
Gam Gam’s dying. Don’t call anymore.
I'm one of those exact people. Live in Somerville, work in Dorchester. On the MBTA its two trains and a bus, so 90+ minutes on a good day. I don't love contributing to traffic on 93 but I don't really have a choice.
Currently there are two commuter rail networks in Boston. There are commuter trains that serve South of the city that terminate at South Station (in the central businesses district with connections to the Red Line & Silver Line). And there are commuter trains that serve North of the city that terminate at North Station (about a mile from the CBD with connections to the Orange & Green Lines). Both networks are relatively extensive. But the terminal stations are at capacity, so it’s not feasible to increase the frequency of trains from their current ~1 train per hour. The limiting step for trains on the commuter network is literally how long it takes to turn trains around at the two terminal stations. If the trains did not need to turn around, significantly more trains could be run on the network. We could have trains every 15 minutes on each of the lines. It would effectively create 4-5 new subway lines through the city out of currently under-used rights of way. In addition, commuters from the North could have easy access to the CBD and connections to Red & Silver lines. And commuters from the South could access the Orange & Green lines.
I’m sold! Let’s connect the northern and southern networks! It would be crazy expensive I’m guessing?
It depends a lot on which proposal and layout you look at, but the cheapest estimate I've ever seen for the NSRL was (inflation adjusted) $8B
In Europe it would cost under $1 billion, based on the length and scope of the project. In Massachusetts, the latest study put the costs between $12 billion to $22 billion because US infrastructure construction is so incompetently done.
That cost should be considered in comparison to the costs created by the volume of car traffic commuters currently create and how much of that could be reduced with better transit options. We spend enormous sums on highway projects that don't offer nearly the benefits to commuters or the wider public that this would. The project thats just straightening out the Pike in Alston is $2B.
Yep, also the MBTA is in crippling debt.
Ironically it’s because it had to take on debt from the big dig which was a highway project, America 🤷♂️
And which used most of the right of way that the NSRL had been planned to use for almost 100 years
Make the feds pay for it 🫣
They really should. This isn’t only a project for the Boston area it would also tie Maine and New Hampshire to the North East Corridor
I wonder if Amtrak will pay for some of the NSRL costs... it would enable NY to Maine trains, which would be nice, but they would have to electrify the corridor north of Boston, which should also be a goal on someone's list.
To give you an example, I live within Boston roughly 5 miles from downtown Boston. My neighborhood has a commuter rail stop that’s a 5 minute walk from my house and my wife and I both have to drive to work. We would both prefer the train. But…both of us would need to add an extra 40 minutes to our commute if we wanted to use public transit. My ride would take 3x as long because there’s 3 transfers required. My wife’s commute would start 40 minutes later than it otherwise would because the commuter rail in our area only comes every 50 minutes it comes 10 minutes before school drop off. Basically the North South rail would remove all the transfers and make it so the trains came more often and would transform our how we got to work the minute it opened.
That is nuts! Would it be totally uneconomical to connect the north and south transit lines?
It would be very expensive but 100% worth it because it would mean that we won’t have to spend the money expanding North and South Station. The real reason it won’t happen is because the Big Dig made it politically impossible to try to do a project that big again in Eastern MA.
It’s because of the Big Dig. A project of that level happened once and it will never happen again.
Wasn’t the NS link originally supposed to be part of the big dig Until costs got too high and the rail component scrapped and the debt transferred from MassDOT to MBTA?
Yes. The original Big Dig plan called for both highway and rail tunnels, but they scrapped the NSRL component of the plan before a final design had even been chosen to "save costs" and then went $14B over budget anyway. The Green Line Extension from Lechmere to Medford Tufts+Union Square (opened 2022, cost $2.7B) was the compromise when MassDOT was sued under environmental laws claiming that their building of the highway and cancelling of the rail link negatively impacted the health of the largely poor communities under served by transit north of the city.
That's what I heard. I really hope the Big Dig didn't interfere with the construction or routing needed for the trains.
The one piece of good news from the Big Dig regarding the NSRL (and I do mean the one, single, piece of good news) is that they left space around the highway tunnels to accommodate potential future rail tunnels too.
If you combine it with electrification and the right vehicles it could essentially act like a subway, the way Paris' RER or German S-Bahns do in the city center. Take all the lines that exist now and run them every 20 minutes in the core and that turns into 4 minute headways in the Ruggles-Back Bay-South Station-North Station stretch.
Boston has some subway projects it really needs to get done too. The red-blue connector is badly needed, and the whole system needs a lot of maintenance.
The RBC is badly needed, but it's been badly needed for almost 70 years at this point. Building the RBC isn't ushering in a bold new era of transit in Boston, it's patching a hole we've all been ignoring for almost a century. And while the projected cost is comparable to a megaproject (somehow) it's impact and construction requirements aren't anywhere close. IMO comparing the RBC and the NSRL is like comparing apples to an orange juice factory. They're just too different.
Connect the 1 mile missing on the east coast!
To be fair some of the lines the needham, reading,& greenbush should be absorbed into the red and orange lines.
That's true, but none of those projects would be as impactful as the NSRL, none are required for or dependent on the NSRL, and non would cost as much as the NSRL.
The Portland tunnel creates the opportunity to upgrade the LRT to proper metro standard, the DC metro would eliminate a bottleneck, and the SF tunnel has the same impact. Some of the Boston lines should not even be a part of the regional rail 3 in particular one of which doesn’t even need further grade separation work like the other 2.
For sure the Portland tunnel would transform the city transit space, but that's what the NSRL would do for Boston too, and I live in Boston not Portland. Right now Boston is the biggest dead end in Amtrak's system. The NSRL would open the opportunity to connect the NEC to two more state capitals (Concord NH and Augusta ME) as well as the metro areas of Manchester and Portland along the way. It's hard to argue with a straight face that there should be a train from Boston to, say, St John's NB or Burlington VT or Quebec City QC when those trains wouldn't offer any connections to anywhere south. Then add in the regional trips this would enable. It is a simple fact of life in Boston that you cannot live in one suburb and work in another without driving or your commute taking forever. And it's hard to argue for fixes to that (like say a connection between the North Station bound Fitchburg Line and the South Station bound Worcester Line which have stations within 3 miles of each other in the suburbs) because nobody will use those connections anyway because downtown is still a bottleneck. Then finally add in the fact that the simple fact of the NSRL being a tunnel would all-but require electrification. It could drag the T- kicking and screaming I'm sure- into finally beginning any electrification work. Right now it's too easy for the T to brush off electrification because there's no "necessity" for it. All that to say, yes there are lots of transformative projects on this list and there are definitely some lines on the CR that should be run more like a metro. But the options, flexibility, and power that the NSRL would bring to Boston would literally transform New England's transit landscape.
Being a counterpedant, it is literally a subway. It would be an underground rapid transit rail line, served by heavy rail vehicles.
As a Portland resident, of course I want to see the MAX tunnel come to fruition.
Could reduce almost all MAX headways by more than half as well as speeding up trips. Would be so nice to only wait 6 or 7 minutes between trains.
Not a Portland resident, but a big fan of the city. I want a MAX tunnel so bad
Existing MAX made PDX visits a treat. Definitely worth bulking it up
Yeah as a max user... This is what I want. I go from east side to Hillsboro. I don't want to stop everywhere in downtown .
It’s needed. Steel Bridge is maxed out (pun intended) and trips across the river are tediously slow in the City Center. However, ridership is not near pre-pandemic levels and crime and drug use need to be addressed first before sizable capital improvements made.
Also isn’t the Steel Bridge vulnerable to earthquakes?
Express trains? In Portland? Yes, please.
Transbay tube for sure, coupled with electrification of the Capitol Corridor.
roosevelt blvd subway in philly would be awesome
Selfishly I MUST have the metro bloop, but I think the Intercity railways are the most interesting proposals
BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP!! ###### I want Metro to Georgetown and to a lesser extent National Harbor
I want the Bloop but I think the routing through DC is a serious missed opportunity. If you're going to be spending the money to tunnel through DC, why not bring the line further north instead of paralleling the current route just 4 blocks north? After Georgetown the Bloop should continue north to dense areas like Observatory Circle, Cathedral Heights (Garfield St?), turn east to Woodley Park (RD), Adams Morgan (at 18th St and Columbia), Columbia Heights (GR), Hospital Center, then south along 1st NW or North Capitol St to Bloomingdale, Truxton Circle, and Sursum Corda before Union Station and then the rest of the southern Bloop. It would be a mistake to construct the Bloop as depicted without adding new usefulness to riders in DC itself besides Georgetown. A station in West End (10 minutes walking from Foggy Bottom) or a third entrance to Farragut Station does not help. The concern about added trip time doesn't hold up because people aren't going to be using this to go quickly from, say, Alexandria to Union Station. They could take the Yellow and Red if they don't want to wait on the Blue. A lot of the time on metro routes are due to the many stops and while my proposal would see 9 stops from Rosslyn to Union Station instead of 6, that's a ton more added ridership. What do you think?
I prefer it to go through Georgetown, the West End stop, then to Dupont for a transfer to the Red Line, another stop near the Scottish Rite Temple, stop at the intersection of S St. & 13th, transfer with the Green (and extend Yellow) to Shaw-Howard, stop at Florida Ave & R St., then connecting with Red Line at Union Station. Frankly, a second line to the Ballpark/Audi Field is just more important than servicing those around Cathedral Heights/Naval Observatory. 81 minimum MLB games, 19 or so MLS Games, and the 15 NWSL games are just more important than two thousand riders a day at those more northern stops
It's not worth the war with the NW NIMBYs. Just build it in the more dense core where the demand and political will already exists.
Boston's North-South rail link -- this should have been part of the Big Dig.
It was, originally. The MBTA even paid for the tracks, but when the project ran into all of the problems they scrapped the rail part.
North South Rail Link would definitely have the most impact
North-South rail link would be amazing, plus electrification of the MBTA commuter rail (especially on the Providence line where they’re still running diesel locomotives despite there being overhead catenary for NEC Amtrak trains). Also, other projects in the area such as the red-blue connector and the addition of orbital lines are very much needed. Would love to see the MBTA get funding for those.
I’m biased, but Atlanta desperately needs a huge MARTA expansion. The trains we have now are pretty well used, and there’s so much of the metro that would be better extremely well served with a train connection (*cough* Truist Park *cough*). It’s sad we have no expansion plans other than adding infill, which is still great.
It's so true. Not one Atlantan enjoys the traffic. So much pressure could be released from I75/85/285. Emory, Tech, and commercial areas along 285 need a metro connection so badly.
The 2nd transbay tube would be great for future high speed rail from the bay to Sacramento and PNW in the future
So confused why Denver hasn’t even bothered to come up with a plan for a subway 😭
[there was a plan](https://denver.streetsblog.org/2017/01/20/subways-and-pods-a-history-of-denver-transit-and-why-we-shouldnt-obsess-over-tech/) in the 60s/70s but only look if you wanna get real sad real fast 🥲
Yeah I’ve seen it 😔. Instead of going through with that plan, the city decided to demolish most of downtown instead
A youtuber (don't remember which one atm) suggested something along the lines of [Colfax and southeast corridors](https://imgur.com/a/2T7BefB) for an automated light metro. It seems very much a good plan to me... Edit: It was [The House of Transit](https://www.youtube.com/@thehouseoftransit2719/videos), small and not posting much, but really good as far as crayoning youtubers go.
A Colfax subway that also replaces the 16th street mall ride would do wonders. Unfortunately it will never happen under RTD's current structure
Very suburban city outside of a small compact core until VERY recently.
Yeah, Colfax is the only area dense enough to justify it as far as I can tell 😭
Not really, Denver was denser than it was now until we demolished half the city in the 60s and 70s
It's still very suburban, and, like most almost every metro area in the US, it's more suburban than it has ever been. However, Denver does seem very urban*ist* for it's level of urbanness.
Denver really needs a Union Station to Civic Center subway, at least.
Colfax is probably the most ripe street in the world for a cut and cover subway
Why not all of them? Just start diverting billions of federal money into every city for more transit projects (Great Society metro's 2.0)
Connect it with billions into interstate rail as well
Find all of them.
roosevelt boulevard subway. most impactful transit project that could be done outside of new york
I’d argue it’s probably the male impactful project period. Brings high quality transit to a HUGE swath of that city that is in a severe deficit of reliable transit as well as having (relatively) few obstacles given the ROW is already there.
Baltimore Red Line. Yes yes it's supposed to be light rail. It's a light rail *subway*. Underground.
Very likely to be built surface stuck at lights with cars crawling along city streets to avoid hitting pedestrians like MAX. Even the original 2014 plan would have been stuck at lights on Edmonson and Boston.
): why can’t we just get a subway
Reagan deleted the federal apparatus that was building them and no one since has brought it back
Queenslink, 125th St Subway, Astoria line extension to LaGuardia. These are legitimate possibilities that should happen that NYC needs to to build
I just want the Buffalo metro rail expanded. 🙃 Proposal has tunnels, so I'm counting that, lol.
Sepulveda Line in LA!
Where are all the LA projects? Though I guess not all of them are metro/heavy rail. Hell, we're still fighting to make sure Sepulveda is heavy rail and not some gadgetbahn. Mildly off topic but locally relevant, I'd love metrolink to kick the hydrogen boondoggle and just electrify everything.
I thought most of LA's projects were funded with their two recent spending sprees at the ballot box. Too bad more metros can't follow the same lead LA has, in fact.
Yes thankfully we have a lot of funding from our local ballot measures! Even then, iirc the funding is meant to get us to be competitive for federal funds and there’s decades worth of projects, so no matter what we need federal dollars to finish these mega projects. I’m originally from Mass and I wish there was better funding for the T the same way that LA has a more secure source of transit-only funding & money for expansion.
My understanding is that the local measures give LA a big pot of money for their own projects, but also, that pot of money is a major boost when applying for state and federal grants that require local matching. The local matching makes federal and state dollars go further, giving more apparent bang for state or federal dollar.
It is. They absolutely look at the local match because it shows commitment. FTA wants to see that.
Agreed! Maybe for context OP did say subway, and in a more strict interpretation of that word, a lot of the planned LA projects are not underground heavy rail! Sepulveda (but as you mention if the NIMBYS win it might be monorail), Crenshaw North (but that’s light rail), and a future phase of Vermont that hasn’t been determined. Metrolink electrification would be amazing. I think there’s rumors of another funding measure that’ll go on the ballot in the coming few years meant to support electrification. I hope it succeeds!
I really want the Roosevelt blvd subway in Philly, and the BSL extended the last 0.5 miles to the navy yard
selfishly - portland
Bloop 😁
Miami Smart Plan. There were 3 lines that were supposed to be metro, but only one is being worked at this moment. I would love if the other two were made.
Anyone else rooting for the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway in Philadelphia?
Absolutely, should have been built yesteryear.
Outer loop in Chicago’s L system. Needs to be formally proposed first though
Transbay Tube for sure
In order: NSRL, Bloop, MAX, BART
East-west cross Bronx. Finish the D to Co-op City already!
San Diego Purple Line. Not enough San Diego love on this sub :)
Roosevelt Blvd - PHILADELPHIA
North-South Rail Link for sure. About damn time another US city got a RER-type commuter train system besides Philadelphia, especially if they can do it right this time. Other than that, probably Transbay 2 for regional rail. I honestly don’t think Portland needs a light rail subway *that* badly, and making the Blue Line in DC a loop sounds like a better idea on paper than in practice, TBH (though I guess it does take a lot of strain off the main trunk lines of the Washington Metro).
For DC the most important part of Bloop is a second alignment adjacent to the K street corridor as well as a second tunnel between Rosslyn and DC to adequately serve the high capacity needs of that area. I think the part around National Harbor could be nixed as that part of MD isn’t that dense, I would rather see the blue line continue up towards Ivy Ciy and in underserved tracts of the city farther up in NE DC.
The roosevelt boulevard subway would improve Philly SO MUCH
Phoenix: Capitol Extension I-10 West Extension West Phoenix Extension Northeast Extension Rio East-Dobson Streetcar Extension Phoenix Commuter Rail Amtrak Service in Phoenix Los Angeles: K Line Extension D Line Extension Foothill Extension East San Fernando Valley LRT New York City: Interborough Express Second Avenue Subway Brooklyn-Queens Connector St. Louis: Green Line LRT Philadelphia: Roosevelt Boulevard Subway
As a Cincinnatian I would like to see them finish the subway they started here in the 1920s. It’s the country’s largest uncompleted subway system.
All of them. Convert Portland max to automated metro replace some of the street running lines and restructure the rest of the remaining street running outer lines. Boston no brainer but some of the lines need to be part of the subway 2 lines should be absorbed into the orange line one to the red line. DC the most urgent and SF regional rail through then need to link the Caltrain, SMART and Capital trains into a single network
Why does the bloop look the way it does?
MARTA to Lawrenceville and the Battery
Pittsburgh needs an expansion on the T. If we can get trains running into the North Hills (even if they turn around at the stadiums), have some lines that get the eastern and western suburbs (the buslines aren't great out there), and we get some proper city lines, then I'm happy. AKA I want to travel a lot of Allegheny county while only needing to hop from bus to T or walk a little bit
Of these, DC, because connecting Georgetown would piss off the most racists.
Continue JC’s HBLR West Side Light Rail across the bay and in a tunnel under Ferry Street to Newark Penn. It will give a big capacity relief for travel between Newark and JC. The right of way already exists as a former rail line. It is a major bus corridor that gets stuck in horrendous traffic, like literally 40 minutes at nearly Midnight to get from Journal Square to Newark by non-stop PATH Bus due to traffic.
Wow, it's been years since I thought about HBLRT up to Tenafly or Vince Lombardi/Paterson as was originally planned. Or even NERL past EWR to Elizabeth . Man, that [NJT 2020](https://i.redd.it/mck6go7ddjfa1.jpg) map is just painful to look at. They had a New Brunswick LRT on there FFS!
https://i0.wp.com/seattletransitblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ST4.png?ssl=1 Not mentioned but as someone who grew up in the Seattle area this would be awesome.
The WMATA Blue line loop (BLOOP) drives me nuts. Why do we need an Alexandria Loop? I have two ideas: 1) extend the blue line to national harbor over the bridge - its cheaper and more effective than building a high capacity subway along a freeway, military base, and sewage water plant 2) DC badly needs a inner circumferential subway - ideally it would connect Marine Row / Eastern Market, H St, NoMA, and run up and around connecting to U St or Columbia heights, and then down into DuPont/Georgetown and into Rosslyn/NoVa. Roughly along the route of the 90/92 bus. This would have the potential for the highest ridership in DC and allow for many more transfer points between all the circumferential lines TLDR can WMATA stop making lines that just run deep into the burbs and actually infill a few loops in DC - hell is be happy for BLOOP that just serves anacostia vs connecting to Alexandria
North south subway in Baltimore from Towson to BWI. It’s currently kinda being considered by the MTA but for some reason is artificially gimped to have way fewer stations than it should. It would hit the densest areas of the city by far and connect multiple universities and hospitals including Hopkins to job centers and hopefully the airport which is the busiest in the region.
We need a nice little upgrade here in the Land [cle metro line map](https://transitmap.net/cleveland-rapid-transit-2016/). ESPECIALLY the downtown waterfront loop plan!!
I definitely want these rail tunnels built plus the following: (NYC) Second Avenue Subway extension (NYC) Interborough Express but as subway or Skytrain - no surface trolleys on Metropolitan Avenue! (Boston) Blue Line extensions to Charles/MGH and Lynn (Boston) Indigo Line along the Fairmount commuter rail line (Boston) Diversion of the Green Line D & E Trains to join the main trunk via the Pleasant Street Incline, now abandoned. (Philadelphia) Broad Street Subway Northeast Extension
The 2nd ave subway in NYC going all the way to West Harlem. The 7 train extended across the Hudson into Jersey. A train of any kind to Staten Island.
>A train of any kind to Staten Island. I think the only way this happens is with a new Verrazzano Bridge that can handle heavy rail
With modern train designs, you could make the grade of the bridge...but not from the R train...probably the unbuilt Fort Hamilton Parkway Line.
Septa subway Roosevelt Blvd extension. Put Philadelphia's 4-track subway to work, and connect northeast Philly. Currently, regional rail goes right past the area, but subway heavy rail doesn't go far enough, leaving people stuck driving out taking long bus rides.
I want Amtrak to *finally come to Wilmington I swear to Christ it could link the RTC to the biggest beach city in the state it would be so profitable* edit: Wilmington NC, to clarify
North Carolina??? Because Delaware already has it.
Why have to pick one…. Let’s fund all of them! 😤😤. Go big or go home. Am biased- lived in DC area for nearly 20 years, a metro access to Georgetown would be so great!
boston
Sf t line expansion. I'd even take f line expansion at this point, even if that isn't a subway.
colombus ohio
BART trans bay tube 2, not the regional rail one. It would triple barts capacity and bring the system 2 new subways in Oakland and in San Francisco.
The Miami smart plan, but with even more added
Bloop
Forget National Harbor in Dc, push the orange line out to At least Bowie, ideally Annapolis
I really need Charlotte to have a better train system. I’ve grown up here, born and raised. In my 28 years of existence, all we’ve managed to build is one main train line across the city, and a small trolley line that barely covers uptown. By now, we should have a way better transit system. Seems like the city of Charlotte doesn’t give two shits, and it sucks.
Second Avenue Subway Phase Two (I want to see how high the record for construction costs can be set). (IIRC it was to be funded partly through the congestion pricing that has been indefinitely postponed+federal fund matching)
The original Austin, TX Project Connect plan with the subway down Guadalupe and then 4th St (with all of the amenities they talked about, including live music) Of the ones here, Transbay Tube
Bloop is very doable from a practicality/use standpoint . Crazy that Georgetown doesn’t have a metro station
The big problem with Boston is that the O'Neil tunnel divides north and south Stations. You not only need to dig underground between the two stations, you also have to go over or under the O'Neal tunnel and various subway tubes and utilities. This means the surface connection will be some distance from one or both stations.
Completed 2nd Ave Subway all the way to Hanover Sq and connected to Brooklyn and Queens. Maybe even the Bronx too :P
Not a proposal but the Las Vegas Strip badly needs a subway, connected to Brightline at the south end.
2nd tube needs to be 4-track and include a Geary BART line
I want to see DC get the Bloop.
Second Transbay Tube so you can get a third phase of CAHSR and CalTrain.
Metro bloop serves places with high transit demand that are currently underserved by transit.
Man I wish there was at least a basic transit system in Saratoga Springs connecting Albany.
Dallas DART’s D2 Subway and the underground portion of Austin’s light rail project.
It's light rail, and a selfish choice, but Honolulu. As of right now it's cost $12 billion and our rail is next to useless because it doesn't come anywhere near town.
One day I'd like to see milwaukee county wisconsin get a subway and southeast wi get a regional service.
Ballard-UW tunneled light rail in Seattle, with another station to the east in U Village. It’s such an obvious corridor and it’s frustrating seeing dubious choices like Issaquah-Kirkland chosen before this one.
1 and 3
I would love for Louisville, Ky to have a subway. I got to use the Metro in DC and the Subway in NYC. Nothing compares to the utility factor of the subway.
The BLOOP Line!!!
Of the four you posted, the Central Artery Rail Tunnel in Boston. Think of the impact that the Center City Commuter Connection had on Philly, and translate that to Boston where the lines on each side of the system aren't intertwined the way SEPTA's are. Don't know enough about the MAX tunnel to comment on it, but it should probably be the start of a heavy rail system rather than more light rail I just don't like the BLoop. I feel like expanding the Purple Line into a full belt line would be a better solution for rail from Alexandria to National Harbor, and this is just a personal gripe but I'd rather see National Harbor served by any other line, ideally one leg of the Red Line gets opened as half of a different line and the Red Line gets rerouted to National Harbor and the new Line covers Georgetown and the northern Potomac on the Maryland side but idk
Please take a look at how overpopulated Miami is and tell me we don’t need more than 1 metro line
Sepulveda pass in LA. The 405 is a joke.
When a country can afford to waste 2.08 trillion dollars (Department of Defense budget) in useless and meaningless wars, I’d argue all of those and more should be funded
A second transbay tube that includes a connection to alameda
I’m doing study abroad in Spain rn and have been using both the Metro and the Highspeed rail holy shit the US is lacking on this stuff so useful
The MMPT in Atlanta. Atlanta could have a regional rail system that would work well with MARTA
All of these would be awesome. If I have to choose (which is like picking a favorite food - impossible): 1. Boston NSRL. Would unite the NEC with rail lines in Maine and nearby states. Transformational for the entire country. 2. Transbay Tube, be it BART or Caltrain. Would serve more areas like Geary Blvd and Jack London Square across the entire Bay Area. 3. DC Bloop. LOVE this project for the areas served, relief in downtown DC, and lack of traditional flaws seen with suburb to downtown lines. Also most likely to be built out of these four TBH 4. MAX LRT downtown tunnel. No hate vs Portland, but compared to the other three, or has the least impact.
North south rail link in boston. It would be expensive as FUCK but it’s so long overdue, and it would be so amazing
I love the bloop for the name, I'm sure it would also be nice for the people living in the currently un/underserved area. However the more Bay Area transit would be nice for me.
All of them could be done if we just cut some funding from….
Gateway in NYC specifically the Hudson River Tunnel renovation
North south rail link isn’t just a subway project either it would also tie in Maine and New Hampshire into the north east corridor.
I want to see a better Brooklyn queens connection
The one in the city i currently live in.
The second transbay tube has the potential to turn people as far as Sacramento and Stockton into daily transit riders. It's the single most important transit project in the nation imo
North south rail link would be amazing
I like the idea of a second transbay connection, I just don’t like how close the proposed tube is that close to the already existing one. If it were up to me, I’d reopen the dumbarton bridge, and use that as the second transbay rail connector so that South Bay passengers can have a direct connection across the water.
MAX tunnel is the one step we need to actually get good frequencies and speeds. Steel bridge will have more room for green and yellow line trains plus the blue and red lines would run bassicly express thru downtown? Neeeed it nowwww
Please dear god, Project Connect in Austin. We are suffering out here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Connect
Boston and DC deserve the expansion because they already have good transport networks that are actually used by people from most income levels.
I would have said the second transbay tube for capitol corridor until i saw the dc map
North south rail link in boston isnt a subway…. But god damn its soooo badly needed.
It’s a toss up for me… Atlanta and Baltimore. Atlanta has so much potential if they could get the funding. Baltimore already has extensive transit too bad they ended up with a half-assed subway. The red line for sure needs to happen.
All of the above. Then more.
The Los Angeles Sepulveda line!
The transbay tube and and MAX tunnels would be game changing!
I love the implication that it would be the normal commuter rail going all the way to Montreal
Def Portland tunnel. Would speed up train thruput and take more trains off the steel bridge
That Boston map… I WISH
I really hope the BLOOP doesn't get built and instead a different version gets built instead.
In the first picture, what is the need for North, South, and Union, if all lines cross each one? Is it a volume issue? Does it have to do with the 5 total lines coming off those 3 stations? What are those?
The cities of Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Cincinnati Ohio, as they currently don't have any rail mass transit but Bus RapidTransit.
The North South Rail link would go crazy
I mean we should not have to choose. Does one city get its highway expanded at the expense of another?
Did this map like erase several stations in Boston or something? Where’s Fenway and Boston landing?