Mapping 'Lost' Transit Systems

Nick Swartsell shares the work of artist and transit enthusiast Jake Merman, who creates maps of "lost" subways and streetcar systems. These maps include systems that have been ripped out, and many that were planned and never built.

"He's drawn maps of Detroit's streetcar system circa 1950, a 1997 monorail proposal in Seattle, Cleveland's Electric Interurban Railway circa 1898 and a number of others," writes Swartsell.

Swartsell's specific interest in Merman's work stems from two maps of Cincinnati. "One shows Cincinnati's ill-fated subway system, color-coded by sections of the proposed 16-mile loop that still exist today, those that were built but later demolished and those that never left the drawing board, along with proposed connections to streetcars," explains Swartsell. "Berman's other Cincinnati-centric map features the 2002 Metro Moves initiative, a vast multi-modal transit system that would have been financed with a half-cent Hamilton County sales tax increase."