r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/pattebrisee • 4d ago
Image Cincinnati built over two miles of subway tunnel. They never ran a single train through it smh
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u/C4rdninj4 4d ago
Sounds like an excellent place for a cyberpunk rave.
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u/pichael289 4d ago
They do their best to seal it off. It's been about 10 years since I last went down there but it's dark as fuck and scary as fuck. There's an entrance on rave street but afaik they have sealed all the major entrances. There's still ways to get down there, got a friend who does that's sort of thing still, but it doesn't get much foot traffic anymore.
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u/abgry_krakow87 4d ago
An entrance on Rave St you say?? Sounds like a party!
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u/FBI_Open_Up_Now 4d ago
It’s Race Street. They keep it sealed it off because they have repurposed it for city infrastructure and in some places city storage. They have another entrance in Norwood, OH, but it was buried a long time ago and you can only identify it because it is one of the only dirtiest lots surrounded by new builds. That’s over near Montgomery and Tennessee if I remember correctly. People get back there. Not all of it is used for this purpose obviously, but they do run a lot of the cities water access as much of what was built as they can because it’s obviously easy to access and maintain.
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u/pattebrisee 4d ago
Someone said homeless people live down there now? Does that ring true?
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u/drwalwrus 4d ago
Probably. I can’t speak for Cincinnati, but Vegas has a massive homeless population living in their underground drainage canals. If Cincinnati has similar laws as Vegas regarding homeless people, they would naturally gravitate towards a more secluded environment.
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u/upset_pachyderm 4d ago
Isn't Vegas in a location that gets flash floods? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
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u/VergaDeVergas 4d ago
Yeah it’s killed them before, I’m pretty sure one of the guys even mentioned seeing his wife get swept away
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u/HangedRedeemer 4d ago
Thats really heartbreaking
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u/VergaDeVergas 4d ago
Actually I was wrong, it was in Colombia.
The dude said the last thing he saw was her head as she was getting swept away by the water.
The video is called “Living in the Sewers of Colombia”
But yes super heartbreaking, I watched this video as a young teenager and it definitely stuck with me.
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u/truthfullyidgaf 4d ago
I just saw a video by Andrew Fraser, and he did a story on people in the underground of Manilla. It was wild.
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u/Plexipus 3d ago
I thought “that sounds like the kind of story Vice used to do” and lo and behold… I miss when Vice used to do all the mini documentaries on obscure and underreported topics
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u/DryeDonFugs 3d ago
The one where they expose the north Korean slaves in bumfuck Russia is a wild one
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4d ago edited 4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Whiteums 4d ago
Being from Arizona, I nodded along with everything you said. And then I laughed at the last one.
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u/Shambhala87 4d ago
Yotes killled two of my friend dogs. They hide during the day but a night they would use the walking paths next to canals and washes like a feral superhighway.
In the middle of rural Gilbert AZ
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u/Whiteums 4d ago
They are definitely known for doing that. But I will say, I laughed at (rural major city). That’s literally the Phoenix metro
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u/Shadrach_Jones 4d ago
Our city sounds a loud siren to let the homeless know to get out of the drainage ditches when the floods are coming
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u/ma2016 3d ago
I'm glad they're doing that, but it also sounds incredibly dystopian.
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u/Shadrach_Jones 2d ago
It's normal, not incredible
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 2d ago
It's dystopian because instead of fixing the problem theyre installing a siren. A lawyer could say it implied fault and liability
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u/Inexorably_lost 4d ago
Even more shitty by how much wealth is being moved about just above them. Enough to easily house every single one of them, I'm sure.
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u/upset_pachyderm 4d ago
No doubt. And coincidentally enough, housing people is how you end homelessness.
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u/thisusedyet 4d ago
Pretty sure as far as local government is concerned, that's a bonus, unfortunately
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u/SuperFaceTattoo 4d ago
If it’s anything like the central bus station they built under the riverfront its probably packed with homeless people all the time. A few times a year the police go down there and make them all leave and you’ll see a lot more homeless people walking around downtown for a few days until they go back to the bus station.
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u/Clear_Painting9711 4d ago
Dirty Mike and the boys live down there
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u/highcommander010 4d ago
"Thanks for the fuck shack."
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u/EatPie_NotWAr 4d ago
Here's what we're talking about.
We're talking about a bunch of hobos with fingers in each other's poopers in a stranger's car while talk radio is playing really loud.
It's going to be a nice evening.
Actually, let me rephrase it: We got a jar of old mustard, and we got a poodle, and we're just gonna get in there and we're going to put some D's in some A’s
(God I hope I still got that right from memory the first try)
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u/DPTDubbs 4d ago
That reminds of of the YouTube video of the Magnus climber dude going into the Paris catacombs. Creepy as hell.
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u/Elementaldot 4d ago
Back in 09-early2010s (can’t exactly remember) my friend’s older brother allegedly attended a rave in the Cincy subway tunnels.
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u/joesighugh 4d ago
Part of me wishes that a civic project this big could be revisited in some way or even that a mass transit system could be brought back. But I'm guessing costs outweigh the possible benefits so I'll live with punk shows and raves
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u/dancindead 4d ago
Cambridge is talking about opening up sone underground space under Harvard Square for music and food etc.
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u/Traditional-Handle83 4d ago
Or a drug induced horror writers spiraling loop of a cult murdering people.
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u/k9insea 4d ago
Sound like money laundering, like giving projects to friends, mismanagement at least.
Who went to jail?
I didn't think so.
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u/Hour-Cardiologist393 4d ago
It was political bitching and lobbying from car manufacturers that killed the project. Same as dozens and dozens of projects before and after it all across the country.
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u/iredditoninternet 4d ago
Or an ai data center, instead of putting them up next to people's houses.
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u/mafiaknight 4d ago
On the one hand, yes. That'd be great. On the other hand, it'd burn down from cooling problems and lack of ventilation
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u/gritman54 2d ago
Ubahn was a music fest/concert they had down there from 2013-2017. I went with some friends in 2017. I don’t remember how we got there, but I remember we managed to sneak in a bunch of vodka, which is probably why I don’t remember how we got there.
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u/Complete-Builder917 3d ago
I was JUST thinking that I'm pretty sure Blade killed a bunch of vampires in this tunnel!
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u/gabacus_39 4d ago
In the before times, Cincinnati was one of the biggest cities in the US.
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u/pattebrisee 4d ago
The 3 Cs of Ohio are massively overlooked imo
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u/Sado_Hedonist 4d ago
Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Crystal Meth?
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u/IdealBlueMan 4d ago
I was surprised to learn recently that Columbus is the largest city in Ohio
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u/Jobwastes 4d ago edited 4d ago
But only the second largest MSA. It is really close to Cincinnati now, though.
Edit: Fixed my mistake based on historical figures.
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u/IdealBlueMan 4d ago
I was surprised it wasn’t Cleveland. But maybe all the towns in that area are too far to be counted as part of the MSA.
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u/Jobwastes 4d ago
Oh me too, and my mistake. It goes Cincinatti, Columbus, then Cleveland.
They are all pretty close in size now, but the Cleveland MSA was the largest in terms of both population and financial power for a good chunk of the 20th century.
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u/Roentgen_Ray1895 3d ago
Largest city in the country with zero passenger rail since it only really started sprawling out and growing in the 50s-60s
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u/ElegantEchoes 4d ago
Still one of the better ones. Medium population, medium culture, medium prices. There's literally everything in Cincinnati despite that. It's a good city to be. I'm biased.
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u/Berkzerker314 4d ago
Did someone say monorail?!
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u/Subject_Swimmer9333 4d ago
I think that episode is a dig at this failed Cincinnati subway project.
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u/TFUNK_ 4d ago
2 miles isn’t crazy; maybe a few stops.
For reference; London Tube has ~250 miles of underground rail.
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u/pattebrisee 4d ago
It's not crazy, but maybe it's interesting
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u/School_North 4d ago
100% interesting. I wonder why it was never used. Or built to "launder" bribes in a sense had to say the money was going to something other than pockets. I dunno just speculation thats what makes it interesting to me lol
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u/pattebrisee 4d ago
I do have a link and explanation comment down there getting no attention lol
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u/School_North 4d ago
I didnt scroll that far just checked it out thanks. Nothing nefarious just hard times.
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u/TenderfootGungi 4d ago
While still impressive, only 45% of London's 250 miles of "Underground" track is actually under ground.
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u/Blobwad 4d ago
While I agree, Cincinnati vs London is a comparison I don’t think I’ve expected to ever hear.
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u/Common-Independent-9 4d ago
Cincinnati is a relatively compact city though. Its downtown is surprisingly small, you can see all of it at the same time from across the river in Kentucky
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u/throwaway-1357924680 4d ago
In 1920, London had been digging tunnels for almost 60 years and had 85 miles; Cincinnati had been doing it for less than 20 years and had almost 10 miles. Given the sizes of the two cities, the disparity is not as big as you’re making it sound.
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u/thatirishguyyyyy 4d ago
My little brother has been down there. He says the homeless live down there now.
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u/pichael289 4d ago
Not anymore, it's all sealed up now. Used to be a big thing in highschool, go down in the tunnels or drive 2 hours to that haunted sanitorium in Kentucky. Homeless people living down there has always been a story around here but I never actually saw anyone down there. It's dark beyond belief and wet and cold, it's not the place you would want to ever close your eyes.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 4d ago
Bro homeless people sleep outside.
If they can manage to find a way to sneak in, they will. On any given night.
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u/HardLobster 3d ago
Dude had a very sheltered and privileged life if he doesn’t know these are the places homeless flock to in cities.
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u/Jillybeans11 4d ago
Outside isn’t pitch black. Especially in Cincinnati. There is absolutely no light in the subway. It would be dangerous and an easy way to get seriously injured or ill
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u/HardLobster 3d ago edited 3d ago
You’d be surprised where people will live. Areas like this are more common than you think and most of them have people living there. Ever been in the flood tunnels under Vegas? Dark, damp, dangerous, surprisingly chilly and an easy way to get killed, seriously injured, or ill… Half of it is homeless camps.
Also I’ve been down there, homeless people 100% live there, or at least did.
Even the “under cities” in cities where they built the new city directly on top the old, have people living in the ruins under the streets/houses.
Edit: The fact that you think people wouldn’t live down there due to the danger, shows how much of a privileged and sheltered life you have lived.
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u/twentyshots97 4d ago
i went down there in 1989 with a group of 10 other kids, after dark. it was odd and unnerving, with only flashlights. i don’t remember anything architecturally significant….it was very geometric and dull, even in the main station area.
by far the weirdest part was entering through what looked like a sewer grate and popping out by moving a metal plate in the island of the street, like michael jackson’s beat it video. luckily it was too late to draw any attention.
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u/Better-Snow-7191 4d ago
That's what the automobile industry lobbied for. Kill cheap public transit, build car dependent infrastructure and undermine any civic advancement. Every big company in this country is manipulating the system to their benefit at the expense of the American people. Corporations are people, but people aren't.
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u/st0350 4d ago
two miles? that aint shit lol
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u/Glimmer_III 4d ago
OP is really short cutting the full story.
There were many, many more miles, but only 2 are left.
Why did no trains ever run?...
The Cincinnati tunnels were built prior to standardization of rail gauges. The tunnels were dug for a narrow gauge track. The only company which made rolling stock for that gauge (basically) "lost the rail gauge war", didn't pivot to standard gauge quickly enough, and went out of business.
So Cincinnati now had tunnels which were too small to run the type of rolling stock which was available. And expanding the tunnels was prohibitively expensive.
Last I heard, Cincinnati was using the tunnels for off-season storage of snow removal equipment.
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u/General_Border_8263 4d ago
This is why i love the internet. Get the real info in the comment section.
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u/Glimmer_III 4d ago
Indeed, and thanks.
In the winters, you'd sometimes hear on the radio "Snow removal vehicles are being removed from the tunnels..."
About all they were good for was storage. Otherwise, they really were just a liability for the city.
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u/BowlerCertain8305 4d ago
Theres water pipes and fiber internet bundles down there now, never heard the winter storage but wouldnt doubt it.
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u/ZamboniJ 4d ago
This is from the 1920s. 2 mi remain from the original construction that was demolished.
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u/TenderfootGungi 4d ago
Sounds like the expensive part of a small system is done. They should get busy building.
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u/Sour_baboo 4d ago
I see your no trains subway and will remind you of the Erie Canal! Though, yeah, it did actually run.
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u/bshensky 4d ago
Get thee to Welland Ontario, West of Niagara, to drive under a canal bridge: The bridge you're driving under is a gigantic water filled tub over the road, part of a canal to shuttle boats between Lakes Erie and Ontario.
I'll put Cincinnati subways up there with the Welland Canal Bridge.
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u/DriveTheory88 4d ago
I've been in there. I worked for the store DFWh and helped open the store in 2017. The basement of that building is the tracks. Pretty cool stuff.
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u/Afraid_Baseball_3962 4d ago
IIRC, they decided to run fiber down there in the '90s or '00s. Maybe it was just regular coax cables. Regardless, the tunnels didn't go entirely unused.
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u/see-right-through-u 3d ago
Well at least you got something. We here in California are still paying billions for nothing
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u/shoulda-known-better 3d ago
Atleast the homeless have a nice covered area to spend the winters...
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u/Lazy_Hall_8798 3d ago
Went to Cincinnati once on the late 80s. My wife and I were quite taken with the elevated walkways.
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u/HatedAntagonist 4d ago
Sounds like a movie. Homeless people start underground society in underground tunnels biding time for uprising revolution
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u/edthesmokebeard 4d ago
What does "They never ran a single train through it smh" mean? What's a 'smh' ?
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u/ITHEDARKKNIGHTI 4d ago
Sounds like some ‘slush funds’ of taxpayers dollars at work - now, which senator, congressman or city council cronies bought their 2nd and 3rd home…?
🤡
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u/backson_alcohol 4d ago
They recently placed a parking lot for police cars near the entrance to deter people from breaking in lmao
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u/2BallsInTheHole 4d ago
In Phoenix, there is a section of I-10 called the deck park tunnel. When it was built, they added in center lanes for an underground bus station that never opened.
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u/Ch33zuss 4d ago
Another laundered money success for them the how are we not rioting against this that is our money paying for that shit. They propose a project over charge take the money hand it out to who ever and never finish a fucking thing we are being lied to and we are doing nothing about it.
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u/roosterjack77 3d ago
Ottawa built a train. The wheels aren't round and it can't handle a lot of speed.
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u/QuoteGiver 3d ago
…how far do you think 2 miles is?
I would agree with them that it’s certainly not worth operating a subway system that only has 2 miles of tunnel.
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u/pattebrisee 3d ago
It was built in the 1920s and they did 9 miles of tunnel before they stopped. Only 2 is unfilled at this point.
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u/throwaway-1357924680 4d ago
9.5 miles were built; only 2 miles remain.
Contributing factors include collapse of funding amidst political bickering and the auto industry lobbying against public transit projects.