The document discusses the concept of a megalopolis, specifically focusing on the Northeast Megalopolis in the United States, which includes urban areas stretching from Washington, D.C. to Boston and has over 50 million residents. It highlights the historical development of the region, its dense population, and the role of transportation infrastructure, particularly rail systems, in shaping its urban landscape. The document also addresses the challenges faced by the region, including congestion, urban decentralization, and the decline of passenger rail services, suggesting that improved rail connectivity could enhance the quality of life and economic viability in the future.

1. NORTHEASTMEGALOPOLIS
Kirthi Balakrishnan | Simrithi S | Uthara Jawahar

2. WHATIS A MEGAPOLIS?
A megalopolis is formed when several urban areas that had
been separated for a while merge to form one huge
metropolitan region over time due to the growth and
expansion of the fragmented urban centers. For a region to
qualify as a megalopolis it has to have at least 10 million
inhabitants, it must be a conglomeration of more than two
urban areas, and it has to be well supplied with a developed
network of infrastructure. Nearly every continent has
megalopolises strewn across different countries.

3. WHATIS A MEGAPOLIS?
The term Megalopolis has even come to
define something much more broadly found
than just the northeastern United States.
The Oxford Dictionary of Geography defines
the term as "any many-centered, multi-city,
urban area of more than 10 million
inhabitants, generally dominated by
low-density settlement and complex
networks of economic specialization."

4. REGION ● The megalopolis encompasses the District of Columbia and
part or all of 11 states: from south to north, Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
● It is linked by Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1, which start in
Miami and Key West, Florida, and terminate in Maine at the
Canadian border, as well as the Northeast Corridor railway
line, the busiest passenger rail line in the country. It is home to
over 50 million people, and metropolitan statistical areas are
contiguous from Washington to Boston.
● The region is not uniformly populated between the terminal
cities, and there are regions nominally within the corridor yet
located away from the main transit lines that have been
bypassed by urbanization, such as Connecticut's Quiet Corner.

5. This Northeast megalopolis of the USA contains almost 20 percent of the people of the USA but
only about 2 percent of the land area. Also known also as the Northeast Corridor and part of the
Eastern Seaboard, about 10 percent of the world's largest companies are headquartered here. The
near continuity of the lights seem to add credence to the 1960s-era prediction that the entire
stretch is evolving into one continuous city.

6. HISTORY
Around 60 years ago, French geographer Jean
Gottmann described the term Megalopolis using
the example of the coherent urbanized stretch
between Boston and Washington.
02

7. HISTORYOF SETTLEMENT
The Eastern coast of the United States of
America, due to its proximity to Europe, was
among the first regions of the continent to
be widely settled by Europeans. Over time,
the cities and towns founded here had the
advantage of age over most other parts of
the US. However, it was the Northeast in
particular that developed most rapidly,
owing to a number of fortuitous
circumstances.

8. While possessing neither particularly rich soil (except New England's
Connecticut River Valley)—nor exceptional mineral wealth, the region
does support some agriculture and mining.The climate is also
temperate and not particularly prone to hurricanes or tropical
storms, which increase further south.
However, the most important factor was the "interpenetration of land
and sea,"which makes for exceptional harbors, such as those at the
Chesapeake Bay, the Port of New York and New Jersey,
Narragansett Bay in Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston Harbor.

9. The coastline to the north is rockier and less sheltered, and to the
South is smooth and does not feature as many bays and inlets that
function as natural harbors. Also featured are navigable rivers that
lead deeper into the heartlands, such as the Hudson, Delaware, and
Connecticut Rivers, which all support large populations and were
necessary to early settlers for development.
Therefore, while other parts of the country exceeded the region in
raw resource value, they were not as easily accessible, and often,
access to them necessarily had to pass through the Northeast first.

10. TIMELINE
by
1800:
The region included the only four U.S. cities with
populations of over 25,000: Philadelphia, New York,
Baltimore, and Boston.
by
1850:
New York and Philadelphia alone had over 300,000
residents, while Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn (at that time a
separate city from New York), Cincinnati, and New Orleans
had over 100,000: five were within one 400-mile strip,
while the last two were each four hundred miles away from
the next closest metropolis.
The transportation and telecommunications infrastructure
that the capital city mandated also spilled over into the
rest of the strip.
Washington DC was
made capital of USA
1790:
the region held over one-fifth of the total
U.S. population, with a density nearly 15
times that of the national average.
by
1950:
The proximity to Europe, as well as the
prominence of Ellis Island as an immigrant
processing center, made New York a "landing
wharf for European immigrants," who
represented an ever-replenished supply of
diversity of thought and determined workers.

11. UPSIDES &
DOWNSIDES
OF A
MEGALOPOLIS JOB OPPORTUNITIES
INCREASE IN
POPULATION
CRIME RATE
INCREASE
DIVERSITY
POOR
SANITATION
MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE
INCREASE IN
SLUMS
PRICE
HIKE
A D V A N T A G E S
D I S A D V A N T A G E S

12. CHARACTERISTICS
Common Character of the BosWash Corridor
03

13. POPULATION
Density Map
04

14. as per the 2016 census data
48,710,880+

15. Rank
CombinedStatisticalArea
(CSA)
2010Census 2016Census Growthin
the2010s
1
New York–Newark–Bridgeport,
NY–NJ–CT–PA CSA
23,076,664 23,689,255 +2.65%
4
Washington–Baltimore–Arlingt
on, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA CSA
9,051,961 9,665,892 +6.78%
6
Boston–Worcester–Mancheste
r, MA–RI–NH CSA
7,893,376 8,176,376 +3.59%
8
Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmin
gton, PA–NJ–DE–MD CSA
7,067,807 7,179,357 +1.58%
Total 47,089,808 48,710,880 +3.44%
LARGESTCOMBINED STATISTICAL AREAS (CSAs)
WITHIN THE NORTHEASTMEGALOPOLIS

16. TRANSIT
Infrastructural Networks
05

17. RAIL SYSTEMS
Commuter Rail in the United States Due to historical factors and business
interests, freight trains are given priority on American rail lines, with both
long-range and commuter passenger trains taking secondary priority. The fact that
commuter trains play a vital role in the daily lives of millions of Americans have led
many to question if the American commuter rail system is in need of an overhaul.
Such expansion raises at least three key questions. First, can commuter rail
systems provide an environmentally sustainable alternative to automotive
commuter systems? Second, would commuter rail systems alleviate congestion
issues experienced in many American cities? Finally, would viable commuter rail
systems provide sufficiently appealing alternatives to justify the capital
expenditure necessary to put them in place?
Only 6 percent of the 380 metropolitan areas in the United States host functioning
rail systems-a total of 24 functioning rail systems nationwide. The largest and most
developed rail system in the United States exists in the Northeast Megalopolis
(including the Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.,
metropolitan areas); two-thirds of U.S. rail commuters live in New York City.

18. SHORT& LONG COMMUTES
The rail systems that occupy the Northeast Megalopolis are connected by
the National Passenger Railroad Corporation, known as Amtrak; however, a
minority of Amtrak's activity focuses on longer distance travel. Amtrak
operates on 21,000 route miles in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and
three Canadian provinces. Of those 21,000 route miles, only 363 miles
reside in the Northeast Corridor between
Boston and Washington, D.C.
As mentioned above, the historic factors that limited rail systems in the
United States largely contained those systems to the northeast. However,
the west is not completely without rail systems. The most prominent of
those Pacific Coast rail systems is the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
system. The first track of this system was laid in 1946; its initial
development was driven largely by postwar migration to the area and a
corresponding lack of motorways in the area. In fact, counter to the
anti-rail trend in the rest of the country, BART was actually developed in
order to avoid total dependence on automobiles.

19. SHORT& LONG COMMUTES
Focussing in on Boston, New York,
Philadelphia and Washington, DC and look at
commutes ranging from 50 to 100 miles, as
there is a good bit of overlap and this fits the
'long-distance' threshold used by many,
including Rapino and Fields.
Most people, of course, don't commute these
kinds of distances but let’s particularly look
into the relationships over longer distances
as it says a lot about the pull of individual
cities. In the case of the above, it's actually
the county-level that is targeted (so New
York County (Manhattan) for NYC, Suffolk
County for Boston and so on).
Source

20. HSR
The 2005 studio team identified transportation linkages as a
major weakness in the mega-region, with particular emphasis on
the lack of strong connections between strong cities and
under-performing cities. High Speed Rail (HSR) is the most
appropriate mode to service the needs of mega-regions
stretching from 200- 500 miles across. An HSR system, much
like those in Europe and Japan, could provide quick links
between major cities, whereas regional and local systems can
remain in place—with major improvements in maintenance and
operations.
Three strategies are essential in realizing this vision of a
tightly-linked transportation network for the mega-region. First,
due to the large amounts of money involved, investments should
be phased in starting with upgrading the existing infrastructure
then adding a HSR demonstration line between Philadelphia and
New York. Second, institutional and funding reforms must be
enacted: the federal government must come to terms with the
fact that public transit will never be a profit-making business,
but is a public service. Third, and most salient to riders, there
must be improved standards of service with greater rates of
on-time arrivals, faster service, and more affordable tickets.
Although the initial investment costs may seem staggering, the
longterm pay-offs for the region as a whole are incalculably large
and far-reaching.

21. METRO
Currently, only a small number of people
commute between New York City and
Philadelphia, the nation’s largest and fifth
largest metropolitan centers. Although these
two city centers are only 90 miles apart, the
current highway commute is very congested
and subject to delay and uncertainty.
Although Amtrak provides Acela and regional
rail service between the two cities, these
services are relatively slow, expensive,
unreliable and infrequent. As a result, in
2000, only 7,538 people lived in the
Philadelphia metro region and commuted to
work in the New York City metro region. And
1,656 who lived in the New York metro region
commuted to work in the Philadelphia metro
region.

22. The Megalopolis corridor, as a result of the declining rail service, has become a region that is a victim of congestion, urban
decentralization, and socioeconomic inequity. From 1920 to the present, these issues have compounded, causing the Northeast
Rail Corridor (NEC) to focus on ways to address these issues.
The declining passenger rail system, which was brought on by the development of the automobile, has shifted riders from rail
onto the road causing significant congestion. The typical trips that were once by train slowly turned into more convenient,
accessible, yet congested automobile trips (DeCerreno, 2007). The passenger rail system’s inability to provide effective and
reliable service continued to reduce ridership. Lack of funding also led Amtrak and the other owners to defer necessary
maintenance, again decreasing ridership (Todorovich and Vallabhajosyula, 2007). Figure 9 shows changes in transportation
modes based on US vehicle miles from 1994 to 2004.
Influence of Passenger Rail
Decline on Megalopolis
Corridor

23. Megalopolis is a “transportation corridor” rather than a corridor that formed as a function of urban decentralization. It was the
strategic placement of the rail lines that provided a transportation “spine” for which the future highway system developed. Since
its decline, alternative modes such as the automobile and air travel have drastically increased. This caused the passenger rail
system to continue to suffer from lack of funding and decreased ridership. Unfortunately, it is the reliance on these alternative
modes that cause congestion, sprawl, global warming, socioeconomic clustering, and other Megalopolis corridor challenges for
the future.
These challenges of the Megalopolis corridor must be addressed to maintain an acceptable quality of life for its residents. In the
future, the passenger rail system would be a viable service in order to reduce drivers on the road, promote infill development,
and reduce fuel emissions. With adequate funding and increased ridership, the railroad “spine” could re-develop and influence
the corridor as it did over a century ago.
CONCLUSION