

Cincinnati Subway - jmduke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Subway

======
someremains
I explored this in 2002 with a group of friends while on Christmas break from
school. We had to slide down the side of I-75, pry open a grate and drop down
onto the top of the water mains running through. We walked almost the entire
length of the system before popping out of a manhole in the middle of down
town Cinci. The stations and tunnels seem to have been used as some sort of
shelters during cold war as there was large amounts of "artifacts" left over
from the Civil Defense era (water canisters, beds, etc.). A great experience.

~~~
keithpeter
In some UK cities, they build hardened telephone exchanges in the late 50s
early 60s to try to guarantee communications in the event of a nuclear war.
The one in Birmingham is now used for data cables and isn't open to public
because of water-table rises.

[http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/birmingham_anchor_exch...](http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/birmingham_anchor_exchange/index.html)

[http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/birminghams-
hidden...](http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/lifestyle/birminghams-hidden-
spaces-anchor-exchange-6449340)

The Anchor exchange construction project had a cover story: an underground for
Birmingham that, alas, had to be cancelled later because of changes in the
market!

The main one in London was re-purposed from an abandoned underground station,
itself used as a communication centre in the 2nd world war.

[http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/k/kingsway/](http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/k/kingsway/)

So a civil defence use for such tunnels sounds very plausible. No budget line,
no need for any questions &c.

~~~
noer
There's a building in lower manhattan that was designed for that purpose as
well:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street)
Technically there are two buildings built for telephone switching, but I don't
think the other building (375 Pearl St) is nearly as overbuilt.

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crxgames
Cool to see my city on HN this morning! They are doing tours of the system
again for those interested:
[https://www.cincymuseum.org/programs/heritage#subway](https://www.cincymuseum.org/programs/heritage#subway)

They are only done a few times a year, but at least it is offered. We also
have lots of underground preprohibition brewery tunnel tours as well. There's
a lot of old stuff in the city. However, it's only been the last 2 years or so
that downtown has slowly been revitalized with life instead of abandoned
buildings.

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macNchz
It's a shame that something that got this far would be lost to 'political
bickering'–though as a project it does seem to have also fallen at just the
wrong moment in history as well. It's interesting to speculate about how it
could have affected the development of Cincinnati as a city if it had been
completed.

I was also amused to notice that the owner of the semi-finished subway system
is 'SORTA'...Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority.

~~~
mcphage
> It's interesting to speculate about how it could have affected the
> development of Cincinnati as a city if it had been completed.

Buffalo built (and finished) a similar subway system in the '80s. At best, it
didn't help.

~~~
macNchz
Sure, but the sweeping post-war changes to the urban/suburban landscape had
already well taken place at that point. If this subway had been finished in
the early 20s it would have had some time to affect the city's way of life
before car ownership exploded.

~~~
mcphage
That's probably true. Instead, it disrupted what was already there, which is
still not recovered. Part of the problem was the subway comes above ground
downtown, which means that they completely tore up our Main st., and
businesses left and never came back.

------
rm_-rf_slash
Rochester NY tried the same thing, with roughly the same results. It's a shame
the technology and need for public transit correlated with the automobile
explosion, but culture drives society - if people in either Rochester or
Cincinatri or anywhere else with a defunct subway project really wanted it
completed, it would have been done. Now the fashion is urban density, and cars
are increasingly seen as a blight on walkable downtowns. At least Cincinatti's
regular tunnel upkeep gives the people the chance to dream.

~~~
jeffasinger
One difference is that the Rochester Subway operated for almost 30 years [1].

Interestingly enough, it was actually used as a freight railroad until 1996.
It is easy to walk right down into, with two different public access points
that have no impediment to traffic. There is a lot of cool graffiti down
there, especially in the area underneath the broad street bridge. I'd
recommend anyone in the area to grab a flashlight and explore at some point.

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Subway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester_Subway)

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anonu
Reminds me a bit of the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Avenue_Subway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Avenue_Subway)
At least this one they're about to complete after 80+ years of on/off work...

~~~
melling
They're only about to complete Phase I, the first two miles of the planned 8.5
miles. The entire tunnel will take a few more decades.

For comparison, Shanghai started from zero and built the largest subway in the
world in 20 years.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Subway#Timeline](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Subway#Timeline)

~~~
smackfu
It's often easier to start from zero.

~~~
melling
Can you explain why in this case? I don't really see how it can make that much
of a difference. Shanghai was already a huge city, for example.

~~~
ChrisLTD
Building new tunnels in NYC takes a lot of careful work to avoid damaging the
other underground infrastructure and above-ground buildings.

~~~
astrodust
You're implying Shanghai is an empty city with nothing below ground. It's
probably got just as much subterranean junk as New York does.

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rmason
After twenty years of political battles Detroit started to build a subway in
1928. They got two stations built before the depression killed it.

I can't find much of anything on the net but my Dad remembers it being built.
In the seventies there was an entrepreneur who started running tours of the
stations but he did so without city permission and they forced him to stop.

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AntiRush
There are annual tours of the unfinished tunnels. You used to be able to get
in, but 5 or 10 years ago a more substantial barricade was put in place.

Also of interest, the current (and long beleaguered) Cincinnati public transit
project, the streetcars:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Streetcar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Streetcar)

Hopefully we'll actually get them this time.

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xenophonf
I used to work in some offices near the old Sears department store by I-71.
One day a co-worker asked me if I wanted to go exploring. Apparently, two of
the old subway tunnels---short tunnels through the hillsides---run along the
eastern side of the highway
([https://www.google.com/maps/@39.129868,-84.4952788,769m/data...](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.129868,-84.4952788,769m/data=!3m1!1e3)).
We parked on Oak (or was it Lincoln?) and walked down to the entrance in hip-
waders and hardhats. If I remember it correctly, we ended up on the other side
of Taft or McMillan
([https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1256898,-84.4971403,140m/dat...](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1256898,-84.4971403,140m/data=!3m1!1e3)).
Not many signs of human habitation. One of the tunnels was pretty flooded. The
other had what looked like the remains of a campfire, maybe a few bottles.

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joslin01
This would be a great place to prototype an advanced subway system -- say, one
that operated with solo cars controlled by a central system. I think a lot
about the subway problem because I'm in Manhattan and everyday, it's crazy
packed. I know it happens in other cities, but in my opinion, it's a public
hazard because it's a precursor for hostility. Furthermore, the delays are
rather absurd and you just know it's from a different time. I hope someone is
working on subway innovation; if not, when I make it with all my billions,
I'll take it on and this is a perfect place to start.

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ilikepure
I lived in Cincy and didn't know this existed.

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kozak
Almost a hundred years, wow.

