Largest Subway System In The World

Construction of the IRT Lexington Avenue subway between 54th and 55th Streets, June 7, 1914. This East Side trunk line opened for service on July 17, 1918.

In March 1913, the City of New York decided to build the largest subway system in the world. Called the Dual System of Rapid Transit, it was the largest single public works project in American history up to this time. Using both municipal funds and private funds from two transit companies, the project doubled the size of New York's subway network and tripled its capacity, at a cost of $366 million (in current dollars, about $22 billion). The result was a publicly owned rapid transit system that was largely in operation by 1920. The Dual System had a huge impact on the development of New York City, more than any other project ever built. As the new subway lines opened, millions of New Yorkers moved to new homes and apartments in the subway suburbs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. At the same time, new underground tunnels in Midtown Manhattan helped lay the foundation for its growth as one of the largest business districts in the world.

The Dual System saved New York from many of the problems caused by rapid urban growth. In 1898, the city took on its present boundaries, with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island joining Manhattan and the Bronx to form what was called Greater New York. The newly expanded metropolis was booming, with its population growing by more than a million each decade. For Greater New York as a whole, the population was 3,437,000 in 1900 and 4,767,000 in 1910. By 1910, the older parts of New York had become the most congested places in the world. In the Wall Street district, many tall skyscrapers were crowded together, blocking out sunlight on the streets. Traffic could barely move on narrow streets that had once been cow paths. On the new subway, opened in 1904, passengers were packed like sardines.

In the spring of 1899, Tammany officials began to attack the Manhattan Railway Company. By April, every department of the government began to harass the company in every way possible. It is unknown exactly why this happened. There were rumors that certain Tammany politicians had been shut out of buying Manhattan Railway Company stock at the beginning of a spectacular rise in its value in January 1899. Other rumors had it that Croker had a large interest in a company that sold compressed air motors. Croker had tried unsuccessfully to get the Manhattan Railway Company to buy these motors to run its trains. It is also possible that Tammany leaders had seen that there were great profits to be made from controlling subcontracts for various aspects of construction of the subway. John B. McDonald, the contractor who was eventually to begin constructing the first subway in 1900, had close ties to Tammany Hall. Whatever the reason, this dispute between former allies cleared the way for New York to build its first subway.

In September 1899, the City sent the RTB a letter recommending minor changes in the form of the proposed subway contract. The changes were made and the contract received final approval on October 11, 1899. From this point everything went smoothly and the Board began advertising for bids. At the end of 1899, the only doubt that remained was whether anyone would bid on the contract.

It was made clear to the Board even before the bids were opened that none of the existing transportation companies in New York was going to try to get the contract. Indeed, what August Belmont's secretary called the "Whitney-Ryan" group (William C. Whitney, Thomas Fortune Ryan, Stephen Elkins, and P. A. B. Widener), which controlled the street railways in Manhattan and the Bronx, issued warnings to the banks that construction of a subway was financially risky. The group argued that a subway should not be built unless a perpetual franchise was offered. This opposition, together with that of the Manhattan Railway Company, made most New York bankers hesitant to finance companies willing to bid on the subway.

On January 15, 1900, the RTB received two bids. One was from Andrew Onderdonk, who offered to build the lines for $39.3 million. Onderdonk also offered to share some of the profits from the operation with the City. The other bid was from John B. McDonald, who was willing to undertake the task for $35 million. For the moment, no one had guaranteed him this amount, but he had hoped to find bankers willing to do so, once he had the support of the Board. On January 16, the Board accepted McDonald's bid.

McDonald was a contractor who had recently completed a five-mile-long railroad tunnel under Baltimore. Not only was he a close friend of Croker, but he had access to Belmont through his friend, the banker Andrew Freedman. Belmont was interested in the subway. He recently had been squeezed out of several financial deals by Wall Street opponents and now had idle money and a grievance. Belmont was, at this time, unconnected to either the Sage-Gould interests that controlled the Manhattan Railway Company or to the Whitney-Ryan group. He had, however, been involved in the affairs of various Brooklyn elevated railroad companies.

With Belmont's financial backing, McDonald was able to sign Contract No. 1 with the RTB on February 21, 1900. McDonald and Belmont then organized the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company to undertake the actual construction. Ground was broken for the subway on March 24, 1900. During the spring of 1902, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was organized to operate the first subway and took over the contract rights of the construction company.

Even before the first contract had been awarded, people in Brooklyn had been demanding a subway. Soon after the contract with McDonald was signed, the RTB asked the State Legislature for an amendment to the Rapid Transit Act, extending its power to all of Greater New York. This power was granted in April 1900. In May, public hearings on a route to Brooklyn were held. On January 21, 1901, the RTB adopted a route extending from the end of the first subway near City Hall down Broadway to the Battery, then under the East River to Joralemon Street in Brooklyn. The route then passed under Fulton Street to Flatbush Avenue and down Flatbush Avenue to the Long Island Rail Road station at Atlantic Avenue.

This route received the approval of the mayor and aldermen in 1901, and the Rapid Transit Board proceeded to draw up Contract No. 2. This contract was similar in its provisions to the first contract, except that the lease was to run for only thirty-five years, with a twenty-five-year renewal option. The actual cost of constructing the route was estimated at between $8 million and $10 million.

On July 21, 1902, three bids were received on this contract. The first was from the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which controlled all of the existing elevated lines in Brooklyn. The BRT offered to build the subway for $8 million. The two other bids were from John B. McDonald, representing the IRT The first of these, which included an offer to construct an extension of the first subway under Broadway from 14th Street to 42nd Street for only $100,000, would construct the Broadway extension for $4 million. The second bid was for $3 million. Under both of McDonald's bids, the Brooklyn route was to be completely integrated with the route of the Manhattan-Bronx subway and a single five-cent fare was to be charged. In September 1902, the Board decided to accept the $3 million bid.

This low bid, well below the actual cost of construction, reflected the IRT's expectation that operation of this line would be extremely profitable since it would provide a new crossing of the East River between Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, would pass through dense business and residential areas, and would provide a fast connection between the Long Island Rail Road's Brooklyn terminal at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues and Lower Manhattan. In 1902, the IRT also entered into a long-term lease (999 years) with the Manhattan Railway Company for all of the elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx.

The construction company chose shallow cut and cover as the excavation method to avoid having to tunnel deep under New York's infrastructure. Wooden planking and bridges covered the construction so that traffic could continue over the tunneling that would go on for years.

Five different types of construction were used in building the subway: flat roof and I-beams for the roof and sides, supported by steel bulb-angle columns was used on 52% of the roads; reinforced concrete roof was used on Lennox Avenue and in Battery Park; concrete lined tunnel on 23% of the road; elevated road on steel viaduct was used on 24% of the road; and cast-iron tubes were used under the Harlem and East Rivers.

The construction that was typical for the majority of the project was a flat roof I-beam construction with a concrete bottom. The side walls had I-beam columns five feet apart, with vertical concrete arches between the columns. The I-beams supported the masonry, allowing the walls to be built thinner than they could have been if concrete alone was used. The tops of the wall columns were connected by roof beams, supported by rows of steel columns between the tracks. They were built on concrete and cut stone bases. Because the tunnels were susceptible to water damage from the ground, several inches of felt washed with hot asphalt were laid behind the walls, over the roof and under the floor. In some places, this method of waterproofing was reinforced with one or two courses of brick. Terra cotta ducts for the electric cables were placed between the steel columns and waterproofing.

The contractors decided that using reinforced concrete instead of steel roof beams in certain places would work better. The rods were 1 ¼ inches square, and laid out from six to ten inches apart, depending on the roof loads in the different places. Layers of concrete were then laid over the rods so that the rods were imbedded. The same procedure was used on the sides of these tunnels as well.

The work was very difficult in many places because of the sewers, water and gas mains, steam pipes and electrical conduits. Work was particularly difficult where the tunnels passed close to the foundations of large buildings and other structures. For example, the subway passed directly under the Hotel Belmont at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Construction workers had to use extra heavy steel girders and foundations in order to support both the hotel and the subway station there

All of the lines called for in the two subway contracts opened between 1904 and 1908, with the initial segment - from City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway - going into service on October 27, 1904. The first subway was a huge success, proving beyond a doubt that an underground railroad powered by electricity could safely carry hundreds of thousands of daily riders. The first IRT subway attracted large numbers of short-haul passengers within Manhattan and between Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, which resulted in the high profits that Belmont had expected. In 1910, the IRT subway carried 269 million riders. From the start, the trains were overcrowded, especially during the morning and evening peak periods. Meanwhile, the Manhattan and Bronx elevated lines, now controlled by the IRT, were carrying more passengers than ever, with 294 million riders annually. The BRT's elevated lines carried 162 million passengers in 1910.

Since the subway was built, over 100 stations have been renovated, with many more planned. More than 1,000 new cars have been put into use, at a price of $2.4 billion-more than it cost to build the entire subway system itself. But renovations were not done by IRT. The company went bankrupt during the Depression and the city took it over.

Peter Derrick. . New York University Press, New York. 2001.

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