Why hasn't NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM ever had service betw. BRONX & QUEENS and then betw. STATEN ISLAND & MANHATTAN or BROOKLYN? (New York: how much, neighborhood)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why hasn't the NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY SYSTEM, since its start in the 1890s or early 1900s, ever built & instituted subway service between the BRONX & QUEENS?
And then what about not having yet instituted subway service between STATEN ISLAND & either MANHATTAN or BROOKLYN or BOTH between STATEN ISLAND & MANHATTAN and between STATEN ISLAND & BROOKLYN?
In all these many years (more than a century now), has the thought never ever occured to them? Did they find the task so onerous and insurmountable?
To go by train from Queens to the Bronx or from the Bronx to Queens, you always have to first go through Manhattan. (Or am I unknowledgeable in this detail?)
And then, from Manhattan, you can only get directly from Manhattan to Staten Island by a FERRY BOAT (you can't take a subway or commuter rail directly from Manhattan to Staten Island or vice versa . . . nor can you take the Manhattan subways to travel into Brooklyn and then continue on by train to Staten Island). I know that it is a long and challenging distance to build a subway tunnel from Manhattan to Staten Island; but then, instead, what about even the subway lines serving Brooklyn having an extension from the closest point in Brooklyn to Staten Island (which is the neighborhood of Bay Ridge) to extend the NYC subway to go directly to Staten Island to interconnect there to the Staten Island Railway system? After all, the Verranzano-Narrows Bridge crosses from Bay Ridge to Staten Island there. Would ONLY a subway tunnel under New York Bay do for serving between Brooklyn and Staten Island? Or can they instead run subway tracks across the Verranzano-Narrows Bridge (perhaps on a level underneath the car level . . . or else in the middle of the bridge on the same level)?
Or, perhaps instead of the above paragraph's suggestions, running a subway line from Manhattan to Staten Island can be in the form of a CAUSEWAY (a combined bridge-and-tunnel project) like you find in Louisiana (with the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway) or in Virginia (with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel)? Or maybe in can be done in cooperation with the State of New Jersey? (i.e., the MTA intercooperating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey? or it being solely a Port Authority project, perhaps even utilizing the PATH subway system in some manner, or in combination with MTA subway trains?)
There have been various proposals, both bridge and tunnel,for all of these routes ,multiple times over the years.So,it's not like it hasn't been thought of.All proposals have been squashed by one interest group or another.
There will likely be a rail link( metro north) between The Bronx and Queens in the near future but that's about the only one that has a prayer at this point.
i'm guessing that when the trains were built, the majority of the middle classes didn't travel from the outer boros to the outer boros for work and instead the majority traveled from the outer boros to Manhattan for work. those who did live in the outer boros who were of means had cars to travel to the outer boros for work and for leisure.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.