Between 1910 and 1920, the City, along with the IRT and BMT
companies, undertook a massive construction project known as the Dual
Contracts. These contracts provided for the expansion of the subway
and elevated networks to open up areas of the city without transit
service. Typical of the Dual Contracts subway station design was
intricate mosaic tiling, such as this at Montrose Avenue on the
Canarsie line. Photo by Wayne
Whitehorne.
A New Subway Line For New York City:
The Triborough System
A 1910
report on the so-called Tri-borough system, which was the genesis of
the Dual Contracts. The Tri-borough plan included the Centre Street,
Lexington Avenue, and the Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) subway
lines.
New Subways For New York: The Dual
System of Rapid Transit
A 1913
guide to the Dual Systems period of subway expansion, by the New York
City Public Service Commission. Outlines the Dual System plans, routes
and stations of the new lines, contract costs, etc. (6
chapters)
The Dual
System of Rapid Transit
A 1912
description of the Dual Contracts expansion published by the Public
Service Commission.
The New York Rapid Transit Railway
Extensions
A series of articles
published by Engineering News in 1914 detailing various aspects
of the construction of the Dual Contracts subway lines. (12
chapters)
Public Service Record - The Dual
Contracts
A series of articles
published in the Public Service Record pertaining to the Dual
Contracts subway lines, 1915-1918. (12 articles)
The Steinway
Tunnels
Ground broken in 1892,
and not used for subway service until 1915, this tunnel was an
important link in the Queens portion of the Dual Contracts.
Opening Of The Broadway
Subway
The
New York Times report on January 1, 1918.
Opening A New Link Of New York's
Vast Subway System
This July,
1918 Scientific American magazine article reports on the
opening of the Lexington Avenue line and some of the engineering
problems encountered.
New Subway Lines Open To
Traffic: Great "H" System Put Into Operation
The New York Times report on Friday, August
2, 1918, the day after the Manhattan IRT subway lines were extended
into their full-length configurations.
The Park Place Subway Station
Escalators
A 1919 report from
Scientific American about the installation of escalators at the
Park Place station in Lower Manhattan.
Fifty Years of
Rapid Transit (1918)
This 1918 book by James Blaine Walker details the politics
behind the development of New York's elevated lines, its first subway,
and the Dual Contracts.
Build More Transit Lines/
Rush Hour Relief For Passengers
Two 1924 articles about the need for completion of the 14th
St.-Eastern (Canarsie) and Nassau St. lines, and overcrowding on the
Williamsburg Bridge routes.
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