Detroit Today: Detroit almost had a subway system. What happened?
As the hub of the American auto industry, Detroit “embraced the freeway like nowhere else” instead of investing in a substantial rail transit system.
Detroit currently has no railway line that connects neighborhoods in the city to the surrounding suburbs.
In the 1920s, Detroit considered replacing its streetcar system with a full blown subway system. What caused the city to abandon the idea and what does it mean for public transit moving forward?
Jake Berman, author of the new book, “The Lost Subways of North America” joined Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today this week to discuss why the public transit systems in American cities have been neglected and what it would take to create mass transit systems, like high-speed rail or subways, in our cities and connecting our regions.
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Guest:
Jake Berman is a writer, cartographer and historian, and author of the new book, “The Lost Subways of North America: A Cartographic Guide to the Past, Present and What Might Have Been.” He says while Detroit considered migrating from streetcars to a full-blown subway system, the Great Depression followed by the rise of the auto industry changed those plans.
“Detroit embraced the freeway like nowhere else in the world because it was the center of the American auto industry,” says Berman. “And at that point, you start seeing the dismantling of local public transit systems and an unwillingness to invest in fixing what was already there.”
Listen to Detroit Today with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
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