London Underground has recently inaugurated the new Elizabeth Line, an new underground branch that will connect outer suburbs directly to new stations in central London. Many commuters will be able to go directly from their home station to one within walking distance of their office, or to substantially cut transit time.
In the same days, however, on the other side of the ocean, New Yorkis devising a plan to implement the bicycle transport system, while there is also talk of the utopian option of converting 25 per cent of streets into squares and cycle lanes. Similarly, Paris also dreams of reducing the main thoroughfare in the city centre from 4 to 2 lanes.
Urban infrastructure: 9 new metropolitan line projects
New urban transport modes are the main challenge for metropolises in the run-up to climate change. We have selected some of the most emblematic projects of new metropolitan construction sites.
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- Romina Totaro
- 23 June 2022
Urban transport, and the attempt to minimise car traffic, is thus the main goal of international metropolises to keep pollution and carbon dioxide emissions in check. But any strategy that looks good on paper needs major investment in order to build a new infrastructure capable of imagining new ways of urban living.
Between successful experiments, construction delays and future projects, we offer here a selection of some of the most interesting metropolitan transport projects.
The second phase of New York City's Second Avenue Subway project is moving forward, the agency announced on 6 January. The project, which will extend the line 1.8 miles north to 125th Street in East Harlem, has a total investment of $6.4 billion, with a CIG share of Section 5309 estimated at $2 billion. The three-stop extension of the Second Avenue Subway is likely to become the most expensive urban transport project in the nation, but it is already suspected that it will not bring major benefits to many city residents unless significant changes are made to neighbourhood zoning.
London's long-awaited rail link is called the Elizabeth Line, and has been launched to coincide with celebrations marking the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. First approved in 2008, the heavy rail line will dramatically improve the city's public transport coverage, says Transport for London (TfL), reducing journey times, providing significant additional capacity and making the city more accessible. During the first five days of opening alone, more than one million journeys were made on the central section of the line. By extending the transport system to areas that were previously much slower to reach and creating new central hubs for transfers to the metro, the line could also reshape the way people navigate the city.
Line 14 is the first in China to apply the country's highest green building standards throughout the design, construction and operation process. The line, 38 kilometres long and with 31 stations, crosses the city from west to east, passing through the districts of Jiading, Putuo, Jing'an and Huangpu and the New Pudong Area. Internally, the line was designed by Xing Design. The curved water-wave ceiling visualises the illusion of the Huangpu River above this metro line. These 'waves' lap against the columns, creating a rhythmic pulse.
The new Martin Place underground station, scheduled to open in 2024, will be at the centre of a 31-station underground line stretching 66 kilometres from Rouse Hill in Sydney's north-west, through Macquarie Park, Chatswood, North Sydney and the CBD and on to Bankstown in the south-west. The new station will become one of Sydney's busiest public transport hubs due to its location and connections, with the new platforms connecting directly to the existing Martin Place railway station to provide convenient access to the airport and eastern suburbs line, and within walking distance of bus and light rail services.
In the Californian underground system, two projects, both behind schedule and with major budget increases, are expected to add much-needed capacity. A 1.9-mile underground underground extension downtown is scheduled to open next year and will connect the L (Gold), A (Blue) and E (Expo) lines to facilitate connections. The K (Crenshaw/LAX) line will also connect the downtown core to Los Angeles International Airport and is expected to partially open this year.
The city of São Paulo recently confirmed that a new 21.8 km metro line will be built over the next decade. The line will have 21 stations, and is expected to carry 630,060 passengers per day when it opens in 2034. The main challenges that the construction of the line will face include natural barriers such as the Tamanduateí, Tatuapé and Aricanduva rivers, and an interchange with CPTM's Line 10-Turquoise.
Work on metro line 4 started in October 2018, while work on line 5 began in December 2017. The former, for instance, has only achieved 37% of the overall progress in terms of completion. Due to the prolonged delays, the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) has therefore decided to change some of the previous subcontractors to speed up the construction work; the two lines connecting Thane to different cities will have a total estimated traffic of over 15,000 commuters by 2031.
Last February, the project to build the first public transport cable car in the French capital was announced. It is an urban cableway that will connect several suburbs in the south-eastern Parisian suburbs to the terminus of metro line 8. Covering a distance of 4.5 kilometres with five stations along its length, Câble A-Téléval, also more simply called Line C1, promises to speed up travel from the neighbourhood to the city centre, facilitating connections between the network of schools, universities, hospitals and public offices scattered throughout the area.
At 72% completion, the M4 line - also known as the blue line - is a line under construction of the Milan metro system that will connect the city from the east, with its terminus at Linate Airport (on the border between Segrate, Peschiera Borromeo and Milan), to the southwest, with its terminus at San Cristoforo (in the municipality of Milan). The line's history began years ago - the project's preliminary investigation had already been completed by the Albertini junta in 2005 and the line was included in the dossier for Milan's candidacy for Expo2015 together with the M5 line - but the end of work is expected by the end of 2022 and, more precisely, by autumn, perhaps by 30 September.