TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES

Curator: Lena Newman, Special Collections Librarian

November 9, 2018 – February 8, 2019
Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Avery Classics Reading Room, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library

In April 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will shut down the Canarsie Tunnel, a vital underground link that carries L-train riders between Manhattan and Brooklyn, for much-needed repairs. As New Yorkers know all too well, the problems plaguing the city’s transportation infrastructure extend far beyond a single subway line. Express bus lanes, Citi bikes, pedestrian plazas, the constant debate around congestion pricing for cars – all these are attempts made by the city to deal with an aging and increasingly inadequate transportation system. But the challenge of moving people in to, out of and around the city isn’t a new one. The objects in this exhibit seek to illustrate various transportation solutions – from the never realized to the barely still working – throughout New York’s history.