[continued from previous message]   
      
   >New projects to replace the old, falling apart systems run into a   
   >different kind of problem: self-sabotage. Baltimore’s Red Line is a   
   >perfect example. A 14-mile light-rail line to connect the city’s   
   >impoverished west side to its more affluent east side, the project was   
   >weeks away from breaking ground in 2015 when Maryland’s Republican   
   >governor dubbed it a "boondoggle" and pulled the plug. The same thing   
   >happened to the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) tunnel, recently   
   >described by President Obama as the most important infrastructure project   
   >in the country. It became the pawn in a political pissing contest, and   
   >eventually bit the dust.   
   >   
   >"These rail services are expensive, quite frankly," Robert Puentes,   
   >president and CEO of the 95-year-old Eno Center for Transportation, told   
   >me. "They're expensive to build, they're expensive to operate, and when   
   >you do them right, they can have enormously positive implications on   
   >regional economies. And if you do them wrong, they can be a big white   
   >elephant."   
   >   
   >In 2002, Cincinnati’s voters had a chance to resurrect their incomplete   
   >subway, to transform it from a graveyard of embarrassment to a linchpin in   
   >a multi-billion dollar transit plan. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit   
   >Authority proposed a ballot referendum called Metro Moves, which would   
   >have created an extensive light-rail system incorporating the three   
   >remaining 1920s-era subway stations at Liberty, Brighton, and Hopple   
   >streets.   
   >   
   >In many ways, Metro Moves was more ambitious than the original Rapid   
   >Transit Loop. It included seven light-rail lines and 72 stations, at a   
   >total cost of $2.7 billion. While the federal government would have   
   >covered the bulk, Hamilton County (which encompasses Cincinnati) residents   
   >were asked to approve a half-cent sales tax levy to cover their portion.   
   >Just like they had a century ago, local businesses endorsed the plan, as   
   >well as environmentalists and good government groups. Supporters blanketed   
   >the airwaves with positive ads in favor of Metro Moves, and dominated   
   >opponents during numerous public debates.   
   >   
   >Metro Moves was the result of a decade-long effort to bring light rail to   
   >Cincinnati. Moreover, it was the city’s chance to erase the stain left   
   >behind by their unfinished subway project. But Hamilton County residents   
   >rejected Metro Moves in a 2-to-1 vote, with over 68 percent voting against   
   >the project.   
   >   
   >Wedged between the Fort Washington freeway trench and the Ohio River, a   
   >stone’s throw from the city’s baseball park and football stadium, sits the   
   >Riverfront Transit Center, a two-story tall, half-mile long underground   
   >concrete tube opened in 2003. That makes it one of the largest transit   
   >stations in the world. It is also another failed Cincinnati public   
   >transportation project: most of the time it sits completely empty.   
   >   
   >When it was envisioned, planners thought that the transit center would be   
   >a hub where light-rail lines — if Cincinnati ever got around to building   
   >them — could converge. In the meantime, the massive underground transit   
   >station would serve as a pick-up and drop-off location for public and   
   >private buses, as well as special shuttles during game days. Today, the   
   >above-ground portals are locked and the driveway leading up to the main   
   >entrance is closed for 275 days out of the year. Though I’m told the   
   >center is lined with subway tiles and mosaic art, I wasn’t allowed inside.   
   >   
   >"It is an orphaned station," a Channel 9 reporter mused in a 2011   
   >investigative piece on the station’s underutilization. No rail lines   
   >currently run to the Riverfront Transit Center, and it’s only open during   
   >during major events. Public metro buses are left to do their pick-ups and   
   >drop-offs at street level.   
   >   
   >With a $48 million price tag, the transit center has been enough of a   
   >money pit to turn once ardent supporters into foes. Former Cincinnati   
   >mayor Charlie Luken, who helped cut the ribbon on the Riverfront Transit   
   >Center in 2003, now calls it the biggest waste of money he’s ever seen.   
   >"The only reason there's not more outrage about it," Luken told Channel 9,   
   >"is because people don't know it's there."   
   >   
   >When I ask him about the Riverfront Transit Center, Dan Hurley, a local   
   >historian and civic leader, almost chokes on his water. "Underutilized is   
   >such a kind word," he says. "Boondoggle is the one I hear more often."   
   >   
   >What is it about Cincinnati that it served as the setting for not one, but   
   >two multi-million transportation fiascos? Most of the Cincinnatians I   
   >spoke to shrug off the question, insisting that the forces that gave rise   
   >to both the subway and the transit center have nothing in common. The   
   >subway was never finished, while the transit center is complete, if   
   >underutilized.   
   >   
   >In September, the city will cut the ribbon on its new streetcar system.   
   >Many Cincinnatians are excited for their fancy new streetcars. Others   
   >remain opposed, including Cincinnati mayor John Cranley, who calls it a   
   >waste of money and "a mistake." In 2013, Cranley tried to stop the   
   >streetcar, but the city council, perhaps realizing the horrible irony   
   >involved in canceling another half-complete transportation project,   
   >overruled him.   
   >   
   >Recently, the city realized it was losing money by keeping its empty   
   >spaces like the Riverfront Transit Center empty for most of the year. In   
   >October, the station will be unlocked and the gates flung open for Ubahn,   
   >a two-day hip-hop and EDM musicfest. (The German word "U-bahn" translates   
   >as an underground rapid transit or metro.) The organizers are billing it   
   >as the "the first underground music festival in Cincinnati."   
   >   
   >New York City transformed an abandoned elevated train track into a world-   
   >class park. It’s now doing the same for an empty trolley terminal in   
   >Manhattan. The High Line begat the Lowline. If the Ubahn is successful,   
   >could the Cincinnati subway be far behind?   
   >   
   >Moore says no. "We’ve had people approach us about using the tunnel for   
   >everything from grain malting, to a water bottling operation, to   
   >nightclubs — you name it." None of these ideas will work, though. There’s   
   >no way the subway can accommodate thousands of sweaty club kids. The floor   
   >is uneven, there are pillars, and the water main, which was installed in   
   >the 1950s, leaks constantly.   
   >   
   >Which is not to say the tunnels aren’t in good condition. In 2008, the   
   >city was faced with a choice: spend $100.5 million to revive the tunnels   
   >for modern subway use, $19 million to fill the tunnels with dirt, or $2.6   
   >million to simply maintain them as an abandoned space. After two years of   
   >debate, the city went with the cheapest option. The subway houses a water   
   >main, as well as fiber optic cables. And with Central Parkway running   
   >directly above, the tunnels needed to be refortified to keep the street   
   >safe.   
   >   
   >Today, most people don’t know why the subway was never finished. Even   
   >Murray Seasongood, the posh city manager who was most responsible for its   
   >demise, didn’t seem to understand his own role in the boondoggle. When he   
   >was researching his book, Mecklenborg stumbled across an old interview   
   >from the 1960s with Seasongood, who was in his 80s at the time. The   
   >interviewer, a college student from the University of Cincinnati, asked   
   >him if he regretted killing the subway. "He was very jovial, very   
   >enthusiastic," the student said of Seasongood. "But as for the details of   
   >the subway system, he could not recall them."   
   >   
   >Back at Hopple Street, Mecklenborg and I emerge from the labyrinth, a   
   >little dirtier than when we entered but otherwise unharmed. Despite   
   >everything that he and his city have been through, he’s surprisingly   
   >indifferent to the decision to seal off the subway from the public   
   >forever. He thought that the tours were okay, but prone to misinformation.   
   >Maybe it’s better this way. "You can go on a tour of the subway, you can   
   >physically see it," he says, "but you still wouldn’t understand it."   
      
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