Cincinnati’s secret subway
Why did this ambitious subterranean project hit a dead end?
Beneath the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, lies a network of platforms and over three kilometres of twin tunnels leading to nowhere. This empty concrete labyrinth is the result of a huge building project that has remained largely forgotten for nearly 100 years. In the early 20th century growing cities such as Cincinnati urgently needed to solve heavy traffic, so they constructed successful underground rail networks to deal with the problem.
As early as 1884 suggestions had been made to drain Cincinnati’s canal and use it as the basis for a new subway, and by 1916 a 26-kilometre looping route was planned. However, the following year the US entered WWI and the $6 million (£4.4 million) bond required for the construction was withheld. The ‘Rapid Transit Loop’, as the project was to be known, was put on hold.
Once the war was over finances were released, and in 1920 construction finally began. However, over the years the subway had become a heated political issue, and it was discovered that much of the original $6 million budget had been squandered. By 1927 a lack of funds, political in-fighting and the growing popularity of automobiles derailed the project completely, and it remains incomplete to this day.