Rochester, New York: What Might Have Been...

Almost 50 years ago the Rochester, NY, subway system was taken out of commission due to suburban sprawl - as city residents fled, the train tracks didn't extend to the places to which they were moving. As workers opted for their cars to take them into the city, the subway (or, rather, the "light rail") became obsolete. Recently some students took a trip through the tunnels (the trains ran mainly above ground, but traveled through a covered and partially below ground abandoned Erie Canal duct which served as the 2-mile center of the system) and brought back some cool photos.


It's a huge shame that the Rochester subway is no longer in service, though there have been minor calls for it to be reinstated, as well as calls for the original tunnel to be filled in with dirt, and other ideas to turn the tunnels into a subterranean park/transportation museum. If city officials had had the forethought to extend the subway into the suburbs, would Rochester have ended up being a city on par with Boston? Maybe not, but the city itself would probably be a much more bustling community than it was when I was there in the mid-nineties (I hear that the bustle has increased some since that time, but it's an overall stagnant city). As can be seen on the map to the right (click for enlargement), the subway went to U of R (my alma mater), and plans were being made to extend into the suburbs. Why they didn't go through with the plans is beyond me, but perhaps the answer can be found in this DVD.