>>The NYC subway system, like the national railroads, were private, profitable industries that were regulated out of business and taken over by the government.
>The first underground line of the New York City Subway opened on October 27, 1904,[5] almost 35 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line.[6] By the time the first subway opened, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The city was closely involved: all lines built for the IRT and most other lines built or improved for the BRT after 1913 were built by the city and leased to the companies. The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932; this system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down, but kept within the core of the City due to the low amount of startup capital provided to the municipal Board of Transportation, the later MTA, by the state.[7] This required it to be run “at cost”, necessitating fares up to double the five-cent fare popular at the time.[8]
>In 1940, the two private systems were bought by the city and some elevated lines closed immediately while others closed soon after. Integration was slow, but several connections were built between the IND and BMT, and now operate as one division called the B Division. Since the IRT tunnel segments are too small and stations too narrow to accommodate B Division cars, and contain curves too sharp for B Division cars, the IRT remains its own division, the A Division.
Note that the lines themselves where generally paid for by the city and run by private companies, which is generally a better arrangement than having the city run themselves. My point about the government being required to get them going and getting them interconnected still stands.
National railroads often benefited from large government contracts to build the initial tracks, as is the case in every other civilized nation.
>There were plenty of interstates before Ike, like US 1 from ME to FL. And they didn’t stop at every river and ravine for want of bridges. The idea that the Feds, who do NOTHING cheaply or efficiently and have no particular expertise, are necessary for infrastructure is a testament to the lack of understanding of how things worked before government grew out of control.
Almost all successful road systems have been funded by government entities for all of recorded history. libertarian-ism sounds nice but is historically ignorant of how things actually work and often make stupid and untrue claims about private roads and harbor development.
what you cut and pasted is not very different from what I said. I know that the city was very involved with the creation of the transit system, for variances and easements as well as eminent domain issues. But people made their fortunes with them before the government took them over and they started operating at a loss as public utilities. As far as the roads, I specifically mentioned the federal government, states and localities are a different animal, constitutionally . As far as your ‘stupid’ remark, f u.