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One of the major costs of building subway (in Manhattan at least) is that Manhattan is one of the densest places in the world. Higher density equals a higher de
by raiflip 9y ago
One of the major costs of building subway (in Manhattan at least) is that Manhattan is one of the densest places in the world. Higher density equals a higher density of infrastructure for things like electricity, water, and so on. This impacts the MTA in that the MTA has to be extremely careful to not adversely impact any infrastructure in the digging and construction process.
In my opinion this represents a fundamental limit on how dense we can make cities given we want a minimum standard of living (i.e no 3rd world slums) given our current technological level. Instead of trying to build more in Manhattan, it seems more prudent to me to encourage residential and commercial development of the other boroughs and concurrently more subway infrastructure in the boroughs. After all if Manhattan is hitting its density limit, New York City has a lot more land elsewhere to develop before resorting to trying to push that density limit.
Of course there seems to be a lot the city can do in terms of bringing down waste to make building in Manhattan less costly, but I think inevitably the city will need to opt for developing the boroughs if it wants to continue to grow in population.
- rayiner 9y agoExcept the New York Times article shows that MTA's costs are 5-7x higher than recent projects under London or Paris.
- DenisM 9y agoParis isn't that deep, though. Don't know about London. But the sibling advice should stand - dig deeper. Russian subway systems are sometimes very deep, in places you can hardly see the end of the escalator.
- mancerayder 9y agoLondon Tube tunnels are much, much deeper than anything in Manhattan transit-wise. An escalator at the Angel stop down to the bowels of the Northern Line is all you need to be convinced. Just don't stare too long or you'll get dizzy looking down. Bonus: great exercise running up the stairs.
- raiflip 9y agoExcept point is that Manhattan is denser than London or Paris.
- rayiner 9y agoParis is more dense than New York, and Line 14 goes right under the downtown core of Paris.
- mancerayder 9y agoIt's more dense than NY as a whole, which has suburban-like areas, but less dense than Manhattan. Not by a huge margin relative to other cities.
- golemiprague 9y agoJust dig a bit deeper, what's the big deal? They should just bring some Japanese to show them how to do a train system properly.
- cylinder 9y agoIt is completely ridiculous that the MTA does its own capital projects. They have lost that privilege. Everyone else goes out to tender and global firms with expertise bid on them. This is how tunnels and rail around the world are being built today.