The lost subways of North America : a cartographic guide to the past, present, and what might have been / written and illustrated by Jake Berman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction A Brief Primer on Transit and Urban Development 1 Atlanta: The City Too Busy to Hate 2 Boston: Urban Institutions, Megaprojects, and City Revival 3 Chicago: The Loop Elevated, Beloved Steel Eyesore 4 Cincinnati: A Short History of a Never-Used Subway 5 Cleveland: Transit and the Perils of Waterfront Redevelopment 6 Dallas: They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To 7 Detroit: The City-Suburban Rift and the Most Useless Transit System in the World 8 Houston: The City of Organic Growth 9 Los Angeles: 72 Suburbs in Search of a City 10 Miami: Overpromise, Underdeliver 11 Minneapolis–St. Paul: The Mob Takeover of Twin Cities Rapid Transit 12 Montreal: The Metro as Showcase Megaproject 13 New Orleans: How a Big City Grew into a Small Town 14 New York City: The Tortured History of the Second Avenue Subway 15 Philadelphia: How Not to Run a Railroad 16 Pittsburgh: How to Make Buses Work 17 Richmond: The First Streetcar System 18 Rochester: The Only City to Open a Subway, Then Close It 19 San Francisco: The View from Geary Street 20 Seattle: Consensus through Exhaustion 21 Toronto: Subway Line as Political Football 22 Vancouver: An Exceptional Elevated 23 Washington, DC: The Freeway Revolt and the Creation of Metro Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Further Reading List of Archives Used Index

"Why is it that the mass transit systems of American cities are, by and large, inadequate? It's a common question and one that has generated substantial scholarship. But Jake Berman's The Lost Subways of North America offers a new way to consider it: a visual-and fun-journey through the past, present, and possible future of urban transit. Featuring Berman's own colorful maps of old, often forgotten streetcar lines, lost ideas for never-built transit, and modern rail systems, the book draws us into the fascinating transit histories of over 20 US and Canadian cities"-- Provided by publisher.