This document proposes converting abandoned transportation infrastructure in NYC into a network of protected bike paths called "The Tube". The Tube would use tunnels, rail lines, and space under elevated roads to provide safe, separated bike lanes connecting all boroughs. It would encourage more cycling by protecting bikers from traffic. Prefab tube-like structures would cover above-ground portions, allowing weather protection and security monitoring. Converting abandoned infrastructure into The Tube could boost the economy, environment, and public health while redeveloping neglected areas of the city.

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THE TUBE
A Transportation Proposal for New York City, by Laurie Garrett
The concept begins on the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle, a former rail line that has
been paved, exclusively for bikers and hikers. The trail begins along the Lake
Washington Ship Canal, winds 19 miles through Seattle to the town of Bothell,
where it merges with the Sammamish River Trail and continues for 10 miles to the
city of Redmond, on Lake Sammamish. Nationally, the DC-based Rails to Trails
Conservancy, founded in 1983, is working to convert more than 25,000 miles of
abandoned train tracks to bike trails in a vast network of Burke-Gilman-like trails.
Because NYC roadways, bridges and tunnels were built through unusual
combinations of public and private resources over the generations, many have
long been abandoned, even forgotten, after a unique sponsoring partnership fell
apart – in some cases, more than 150 years ago. This makes NYC uniquely primed
for creation of networks of biking “tubes” that allow commuters, school kids,
families and recreational bikers to move with speed, safety, and isolation from
competing transportation (cars, trucks, buses, pedestrians, emergency vehicles).
Consider these:
➔ Ten abandoned tunnels traverse beneath parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
➔ Several abandoned subway stations – some, architecturally magnificent –
remains in the City’s bowels.
➔ When it opened in 1844, and closed in 1861 before the Civil War the Cobble
Hill Tunnel was meant to serve what is now called the LIRR, connecting the Atlantic
Avenue Brooklyn dockside all the way out to northeastern Long Island, go beneath
the LI Sound to Connecticut and link to rail lines to Boston. An intact section remains
beneath Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, extending 2,517 feet between Columbia
Street and Boerum Place.
➔ In 1877 the rail line through East New York was built, now in disuse.
➔ Popular attempts to create an inventory of abandoned trails, rails, subways,
tunnels and bridges in NYC has yielded dozens more examples of wasted
opportunities, in some cases now grown over with urban forestry.

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➔ In 2015 WNYC created an interactive web page of “lost subways” all over
NYC. Some of the lines never got past planning stages, but the interactive notes
which ones underwent some stages of construction, now abandoned.
➔ Untapped New York offers an extensive inventory of abandoned transport
systems, tunnels, stations, with details on their current status.
➔ A long abandoned BMT subway system beneath Chinatown has many times
been debated for development, but sits idle.
➔ This video shows a lengthy abandoned rail line in Long Island City, Queens –
look and imagine it transformed for biking. In places it is elevated, passes under the
LIE, all the way to the CitiCorps building. It can be accessed from 49th
Ave and 25th
St. in Queens.
➔ Folks at nycsubway.org have also posted an inventory in wiki form.
➔ Back in the 1920s a tunnel connected Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to the
Giants Stadium at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan – much of it is simply an
abandoned shambles now.
➔ Untapped NY has also created an inventory of abandoned elevated and
surface rail lines.
➔ All over NYC are so-called “stublines” – elevated rails that were shut down
and then simply hacked off at the end --- creating “stubs.” These are eyesores, often
detested within the neighborhoods. Connecting stub-to-stub for elevated bike lines
would be transformative for these mostly poorer, typically African American or
LatinX neighborhoods. As Brooklyn Borough Pres. Eric Adams told me, “We need to
turn every abandoned El in Brooklyn into a Highline.” If not a Highline, a biking Tube
– with up/down ramps that extend into these largely unserved neighborhoods,
linking them for the first time meaningfully to the rest of the City.
➔ The NYC freight rail system once transported an astounding 44% of all
freight moved by trains in the USA, and hundreds of miles worth of freight rail
remains inside the 5 boroughs, much of it unused. Some are connected to the
suburbs – Westchester, Bronxville, Long Island – opening up the possibility of bike
commuting.
➔ There has long been talk of turning some of the Brooklyn/Queens waterfront
train lines into a light rail system, the BQX, but it’s never gotten off the ground.
These lines could host a bike tube, or a mix of light rail and bike path.
➔ Any use of disused freight and passenger lines opens the possibility of safely
connecting the City to great biking destinations upstate, offering vigorous
recreational riders access to weekend getaways-by-bike.
➔ The nearly-bankrupt MTA is looking at building a new line on existing rails to
connect Astoria to Bay Ridge. Imagine this as a bike tube or a combo subway/bike
system. That corridor of Brooklyn/Queens is NYC’s “Silicon Valley” and would likely
get a great deal of commuter use.
➔ The Regional Plan Assn has similarly promoted The Triboro – a train line
connecting Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. (Which adds up to 4, so
shouldn’t they call it a Quadra-Boro?) They envision a new subway system, linking

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existing East/West lines to new north/south rail. Why not imagine this as a bike
tube, either on its own, or in parallel?
➔ The MTA has been investigating a long-abandoned LIRR rail line in Bay Ridge
– again, perfect for a Bike Tube.
➔ Recently the LIRR abandoned plans to connect eastern Queens
neighborhoods all of the way out to Montauk. The lines were cleared – they are
begging for alternative use: the so-called “Montauk Option.”
➔ There once was a train line that went to Rockaway Beach --- the rails and
elevated tracks are still there.
In addition to all of the above, there are many miles of elevated highway, largely
erected by Robert Moses in the mid-20th
century. These include sections of the
BQE, the Cross-Bronx Expressway, the FDR, the Henry Hudson Parkway, the West
Side Highway: “What could we do with the Space Below New York’s 700 Miles of
Elevated Roads and Trains?”
My answer? THE TUBE.
WHAT: A network of 4-lane bike paths built on abandoned rails, tunnels, and
beneath elevated roadways and train bridges, allowing for traffic-free bike
commuting, recreation, school access and fun. The system would connect riders to
existing safe bike paths citywide, but provide protected lanes that genuinely
transform NYC into a bike-using metropolis.
WHY “TUBE”: Wherever the new
network is above ground, exposed to
the elements, it would be composed of
pre-fab tube units that can only be

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entered from designated on/off ramps, using a paid digital key mechanism or
phone app. The system would be partially financed through key-access-payments,
so that entry to the Tube is impossible without monthly or annual enrollment in
The Tube. In addition to revenue, the keyed-entry system offers security for a
system that would have long underground stretches, and be open at night. The
system would be monitored with cameras and bike-riding Tube Patrols, and
anyone found to be recklessly riding (imperiling others), stealing from or
assaulting other bikers, or in any way endangering other New Yorkers would have
membership revoked, and denied all access to The Tube. Enrollment in The Tube
would require attendance to an online biking safety and good citizenry class,
followed by a short quiz and signed affirmation of agreement with the “Rules of
the Road for Bikers.”
CROSS SECTION OF THE TUBE
Solar collectors on top of tube power internal lighting
Internally, the underside of the Tube ceiling is well-lit, LED;
Open sides allow for air ventilation, while the Tube structure blocks rain, snow,
hot sun;
The opening/sides corresponds with upper body height of adult bikers, allowing
viewing of outdoors;
The bottom curled Tube section makes illegal entry/exit difficult/ impossible;
A center divider prevents bikers from switching directions & endangering others;
Two bike lanes are painted-out in each direction & signs ask slow bikers to stay in
right lane;
Every so often LED signs hang from
beneath the ceiling, indicating approaching
on/off ramps, their distance & connecting
bike paths & destinations. For example:

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Bay Ridge 68th
St, 500 feet. Connect to Verrazano Bridge bike path, South.
Off-ramps would have warnings to slow for exit, and yield right-of-way to bikers on
the connecting bike path/street, “Watch for Traffic, Merge Slowly”.
On-ramps would reach a platform space, where the biker presents key or
phone-app ID, enters to a Tube bulge point and is warned to yield to oncoming
bikers before entering. Those “bulges” in the Tube for enter/exit points might have
room for vending machines of water/drinks, power bars, packets of munchies, and
bike tubes, patch kits, bike lights. There could be an air hose for fixing popped
tubes or putting more air in tires. Maps on the wall would display The Tube system
and the immediate neighborhood connecting paths and destinations, especially
parks, museums, schools and entertainment.
At major, highly-used on/off ramp locations would be a Japanese-style bike
parking structure, accessible to those who pay a small additional annual
membership fee to The Tube. Members would therefore have the chance to bike
all over NYC without worrying about safe, secure parking, out of the weather and
away from thieves.
Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZSU40RBrg&ab_channel=DannyChoo
At some points The Tube would smoothly descend into an underground ---
abandoned subway or tunnel. Before doing so the overhead LED signs would
advise riders that a street exit is approaching: If they don’t take it, they will be
heading into a tunnel and the next possible exit will be in X number of feet,
leading to _______.
At some points The Tube would ascend well above street levels to either atop an
abandoned elevated train line or to hang below an elevated roadway, such as the
BQE. The latter – hanging below – allows auto traffic to move beneath on
perpendicular streets and to access parking spaces commonly located below the
structures. As with descending tunnel approaches, bikers in The Tube would get
LED-lit warnings of the approaching ascent, advised of a preceding street exit
option, and told how long it will be to the next exit once they get on the elevated
section.

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There you go. The Tube. In addition to its structure, I named it The Tube because
as a child growing up in Southern California, I was a surfer. It is every surfer’s
dream to “shoot the tube,” getting a perfect ride through the cylinder formed by a
perfectly curling wave. In our NYC biking world, “shooting the Tube” might
connote taking a perfect, safe, fast ride in the fast lane all the way from Central
Park to Rockaway Beach on a sunny September day.
POLITICS: In many parts of NYC these abandoned rails and structures are unsightly,
filled with garbage, often inhabited by homeless encampments. The so-called
“Mole People” live in abandoned subway tunnels and platforms, while rats & cats
have taken over elevated structures. Nobody wants to own a home or run a store
next to these places, as they are derelict and often associated with criminal
activity. Parents worry that their children are endangered if they play in these
areas. And in many cases the structures are, themselves, in dangerous states of
disrepair.
It should come as no surprise that Stublines and abandoned transit are
most-found in areas of poverty, or beneath/around Robert Moses nightmare
creations. These are the communities that were the last to get CitiBikes, often
have no convenient subway service, must go great distances to buy decent
groceries and see more of the NYPD than any other City service. The Tube could
be transformative, turning ugly, dangerous crap into beautiful places that families
can enjoy, probably bringing people (with money) from other parts of the city to
visit, buying local food and drink.
For many New Yorkers entire park systems have gone unvisited because access is
considered risky or dangerous, especially after dark. Consider, for example, how
few New Yorkers have made their ways to the Bronx Zoo & Botanic Gardens, out
to the Canarsie piers or to Ft. Tilden. If biking was safer and easier, visitation to all
of NY’s great sights and parks would increase – especially if a Japanese-style
secure bike parking lot were at the destination.
COVID-19 has the entire city thinking about alternative transport. During colder
months, The Tube structure can’t warm them up, but it can keep them dry,
eliminate ice dangers, and let them look at lovely snow without having to ride
through it.

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Climate change would be the top topic on the political agenda were it not for the
pandemic, and NY’ers are increasingly “green” in their thinking. What transport
alternative is greener than biking?
In its current form, NY biking is elitist. As a female biker over 60 years of age, I
rarely see a peer on a bike. By far the majority of the City’s bikers are under 40
years of age, male and white. The greatest concentrations of weekday riders are in
neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Bushwick and Long Island City – filled with
young hipsters. As my many battle scars attest, biking is dangerous in NYC, and
requires a decent level of physical fitness. There are few places in the City where
parents can feel comfortable riding with their children. Expanding the number of
miles of street bike paths will do little to change this. At a 2019 MTA meeting in
which then-President Andy Byford explained to Brooklyn Heights residents the
options for closing the Clark St. station in order to renovate its elevators, audience
members asked how they could walk the extra distance to Borough Hall Station.
When I advocated adding extra CitiBikes to Clark St., allowing us to simply ride to
Borough Hall I was boo’ed off, loudly, by an audience of people who clearly
thought bike-riding was an activity for “them,” not “us.” This can only change if
the entire approach to cycling changes, removing as many aspects of its inherent
intimidation as possible:The Tube accomplishes that.
The COVID crisis and lockdowns, loss of tourism and declining use of office space
have put NY real estate, City and State governments and thousands of businesses
in terrible financial shape. New York must find solutions that don’t require
expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars. Because all of the elements of The
Tube, except its on/off ramps, can be pre fabricated and assembled on site,
construction is far less obstructive than, for example, building subway extensions
or new roads and bridges. If prefabrication and installation are entirely done
within NYC, The Tube will be a major employer. By transforming the unused and
unsightly into new, exciting utility The Tube will bring visitors, commuters, tourists
and fun-seekers to parts of the City not currently frequented by outsiders. A
restaurant currently lacking seating space for sufficient customers to stay afloat
financially might be overwhelmed by morning bike/commuter bagel-and-coffee
seekers. (In Portland the bike-to-work-coffee is a “thing”
https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=bicycle+coffee&find_loc=Portland%2C+
OR .) Bike repair shops could sprout up all over the City, next to most-used Tube
on/off ramps.

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NEXT STEPS: The Tube needs powerful advocacy with money. Ideally, a Tube
prototype needs to be engineered and built. A legal team needs to be assembled
to sort out ownership and access rights for a complex network of properties.
Currently, a youth-led research team is scouting and surveying likely Tube
locations for the actual Tubes, as well as on/off ramps and connections to existing
safe bike paths. Another team needs to study the Japanese parking structures and
determine how, and at what cost, they might be best used in NYC. Still another
team of politically savvy individuals needs to augment previous work identifying
potential allies within the City and State governments, including elected officials
and agencies, and consider potential sources of Federal support.
Compiling a professional pitch, encompassing legal, engineering, financial and
environmental aspects of The Tube, will take a strong pool of talent and some
serious money. Building a prototype Tube section will be key to capturing public
imagination. And, as Robert Moses demonstrated, creating a 3-D map of the City
with The Tube routes laid out, whets the appetites of politicians that can see how
their districts and voters will be serviced.
Final Thoughts
I am wide open to ideas and suggestions. The Tube has been on my mind for
years, but until Danny Harris (Pres. of Transportation Alternatives) showed interest
I saw no point in putting a lot of energy into it. I have snooped around the tunnels,
Els and rails a bit – where I could find safe ways in – and the potential is amazing.
I’m sure a paid inventory would reveal far more than I listed.
And I know it would be transformative politically, culturally, socially for NYC. In
Deventer, Netherlands a network of bike roadways from the suburbs into the city
center has proven so popular that car use plummeted, and people of all ages and
levels of physical fitness bike to work, theater, school, shopping, etc. In the town
of Houten, Netherlands more than 85% of all citizens’ travel was done in personal
motor vehicles of public transit before a network of bike-only roadways was built:
Now half of all travel is on bikes, again, by people of all ages. Both Denmark and
the Netherlands have found that smart bike-travel designs have become part of
branding for localities, linked to real estate values and attracting workers. The
Dutch city of Eindhoven is sort of the “Silicon Valley” of Holland – to attract a
computer-savvy workforce they built bike-only roads that include suspension
bridges and night-time LED-lit bike paths that look like Van Gogh paintings.

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According to StreetsBlog, a survey of the NYC bike lanes shows the best, safest,
and most used are located in upper crust neighborhoods. This is, in part, due to
the perception that urban biking is elitist, and linked to unwanted gentrification.
The Tube could truly change that.
The time is ripe --- if I can find anybody to listen to. Because of COVID the Regional
Plan Association in June released a scheme called “The Five Borough Bikeway”
that they say is “critical” to the economic future of the City.
It’s a start, at 425 miles of protected biking,
but I don’t think it will get us out of the
elitism, and it fails to consider all of the
unused potential that I delineated. And there
is no consideration for weather – so biking
remains a tough winter sell. I wholeheartedly
agree with them when they say, “We cannot
paint our way to a world-class cycling city
that assures riders of their safety and
freedom from blocked lanes.” (There’s a great
video on the site, showing the current
hazards of NYC biking.) Because of last year’s
terrible biker deaths – a record-breaking toll – the City released a Green Wave
plan, which found that 90% of all deaths and serious injuries to bikers happened
on streets that didn’t have genuinely separated bike paths. Despite that, the City
plan calls for a slow rollout of added crappy bike lanes over the next decades –
DECADES – at a rate of 30 miles/year.
That kind of thinking is wimpy crap compared to what’s going on in other world
class cities. Paris, for example, is planning a huge Réseau Express Régional-V, or
RER-V. The RER is the train system that connects the suburbs to central Paris and
to each other – the scheme unfolding now would create a vast network of
bike-only roads that accomplish the same thing – Le RER-V. They are thinking BIG
--- not 30 freaking miles of bike path per year --- MASSIVE.
Here in the USA, according to
PeopleForBikes, few of our cities rank in

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the Top Ten for bike-friendly, based on biking rates, traffic and hospitalization
reports and other factors. But the bar is low, as the group only surveyed American
cities. A 2019 WIRED global survey lists the 20 best biking cities on Earth – none
are in the United States. With The Tube, New York City could top the list.
Finally, I can’t believe that I, of all people, waited until the end of my pitch to
mention the public health benefits of bike-friendly cities. More biking means less
auto pollution to breathe, and greater heart-healthy exercise. The COVID public
health catastrophe has propelled surges in cycling all over the world. It may also
spawn great improvements in public health with more physically active
populations, of all ages, using their personal strengths to move through cities.
Studies show bike-friendly cities have lower burdens of medical costs due to
significant reductions in diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.