US Subways Build Too Many Cross Passages
The article argues that US subway projects build an excessive number of cross passages between tunnels compared to international peers, which significantly drives up costs and construction time without proportional safety benefits. It suggests reducing cross passage requirements as a way to lower transit project expenses and accelerate delivery in the US.
Background
- This article is part of the *Transit Abundance Playbook*, a set of policy ideas from the Institute for Progress (IFP), a US think tank focused on accelerating infrastructure delivery.
- "Cross passages" are short tunnels connecting the two main subway tunnels, used for emergency evacuation. US projects build them every 200–500 feet — far more often than in Japan or Spain — at $1–5 million each.
- The argument: rigid US safety standards mandate excessive cross passages, adding huge cost and construction time. Other countries use performance-based alternatives (e.g., evacuation via the platform itself), with no worse safety outcomes.
- This matters because US transit construction costs are the world's highest. Small requirements like this compound into billions in unnecessary spending, making new subways unaffordable.
- The author previously ran the "Transit Costs Project" at NYU's Marron Institute, which showed US subway projects cost 5–10x more per mile than peers abroad.