Rapid transit was seen as the solution for downtown congestion in Cincinnati during the first quarter of the 20th century. Six million dollars were allocated for the project, but construction was delayed due to
World War I. Unexpected post-war inflation doubled the cost of construction, so the project could not be finished at the original estimated price. Various attempts to use the tunnels for mass transit have been unsuccessful. Political squabbling, the Great Depression,
World War II, automaker lobbying and negative news media publicity have contributed to the failure of the proposals. Today, many Cincinnatians are unaware of the tunnels beneath them. The canal was used to transport goods and people from the
Great Lakes to the
Ohio River and subsequently the
Mississippi River via Cincinnati, until the popularity of railroads caused it to become disused. The canal then became very polluted due to people dumping trash in it and using it as a sewer. The canal became unprofitable by 1856 and was abandoned by the city in 1877. and then held a plebiscite on the rapid transit plan.
Proposed stations-Scheme Four: Description from 1916 bond campaign • Oakley Station; at junction of Smith Road and Duck Creek Road. • Dana Station; near intersection of Dana and Duck Creek Road. • Madison Station; at Madison Road, opposite
Owl's Nest Park. • Butler Station; on Pearl Street, at
Pennsylvania Station. • Fountain Square Station; under Walnut Street at
Fountain Square. • Ninth Street Station; under Walnut Street, Between Eight and Ninth Street. • Canal Station; Canal Street, between Elm and Vine Street. • Liberty Station; in Canal bed, at Liberty Street. • Brighton Station; in Canal bed, at Crosstown Bridge. • Hopple Station; at the intersection of the Canal and Hopple Street. • Ludlow Station; at the south end of the Ludlow Avenue Viaduct. • Crawford Station; in the Canal Right of Way, opposite
Spring Grove Cemetery. at the current intersection of Walnut Street and Central Parkway, and the city planned to raise the money to complete the loop later, since funds were so low and there was a shortage in construction materials. The subway's construction caused the foundations of buildings along the route to crack, leading to much litigation against the subway. When funds ran out completely in 1927, construction ended with of subway dug or graded, but no track had been laid. New estimates to complete the loop ranged from an additional $6–12 million. In January 1929, Seasongood – by then the Mayor – discontinued the Rapid Transit Commission, which until then had been in control of the subway's construction; that year, his own office took control of the project. Any hope of raising the money to complete the subway was further delayed with the
stock market crash of 1929. Though few citizens owned automobiles when Mayor Hunt first planned rapid transit in 1910, their increasing usage helped fuel critics' arguments against a subway system. They began referring to the project as "Cincinnati's
White Elephant." Even so, the "temporary" hiatus on construction was expected to end after the economy got better, and many Cincinnatians, including Seasongood, hoped that the subway would finally be completed.
Attempts at revival There have been many attempts to complete the tunnels, but the reasons why the subway was never completed or used for another significant purpose are unclear. In 1936 the city commissioned the Engineers' Club of Cincinnati to produce a report on how to use the unfinished rapid transit property. The report could not find any use for the tunnels other than what they had been designed for. Because the city's needs had changed from twenty years earlier, the report suggested that the subway "should be forgotten". In 1939 the tunnels were researched for possible automobile traffic, but were found to be unsuitable for that use. In 1940 the city sought the advice of several experts to settle once and for all the fate of the subway. The report recommended placing all streetcar and trolley transportation underground (i.e., a subway), but Cincinnati already had too many other expensive public projects underway. In any case, the plan was put on hold yet again when the United States entered World War II in 1941. During World War II the city was focused on wartime rationing, so completing the subway was not a high priority. The tunnels were suggested as possible air raid shelters, and recent imagery of the now abandoned tunnels show old bunk-beds remain, suggesting it was used for this purpose. Underground storage of commercial and military supplies was also proposed as a use for the tunnels, or as a pathway to bring freight into the heart of the city, but both ideas were rejected because they would delay bringing mass transit to Cincinnati. After the war ended the City Planning Commission decided to not include the subway in its plans. Instead, the auto industry aggressively lobbied the commission to use the loop's right-of-way as pathways for
Interstate 75 and the
Norwood Lateral. Then, in the 1950s, a massive
water main was laid in the northbound tunnel to save $300,000 by not digging a new tunnel for the water main. According to the engineering firm
Parsons Brinckerhoff, a redundant water main was installed during the construction of
Fort Washington Way so the water main in the subway could be removed easily. There is also an escape clause in Ordinance No. 154-1956 that states, "in the event said section of the rapid transit subway is, at some future date, needed for rapid transit purposes, the Water Works shall remove said main at its sole cost." During the height of the
Cold War in the 1960s, Hamilton County proposed the Liberty Street station be turned into a bomb shelter. However, the result was a very weak attempt at a fallout shelter that would not have provided much for those residing in it. There were also suggestions by investors to turn the tunnels into passages for freight trains, but that project failed due to the sharp turns existing in the tunnels that freight trains could not handle. The subway bonds were paid off in 1966 at a total cost of $13,019,982.45. In the 1980s the city pitched the tunnels to
Hollywood filmmakers as a location to shoot subway scenes. In particular, the location was presented to the makers of
Batman Forever, but as of 2008 the tunnels had not been used in any feature films. In 2002, a regional
light rail system was proposed to use the tunnels; the system would cost $2.6 billion and take thirty years to build. The plan was voted down by more than a 2-to-1 ratio, In late 2024, the city issued a Request for Information on possible uses for the tunnel. ==Current status==