The Failure of Metropolitan Coordination in the New York Tri-State Area

An inquiry into the historical trajectory of regional governance within the New York metropolitan area reveals a persistent pattern of institutional fragmentation and frustrated attempts at meaningful coordination. While the post-war era witnessed the emergence of a broad consensus among planners and some public officials on the necessity of addressing metropolitan problems on a scale […]

Train to the Game: How Metro-North, Amtrak, and NJ Transit Built—and Killed—Regional Rail to the Meadowlands

https://liamblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/TrainToTheGame.mov Train To The Game 8 min read How the MTA, Amtrak, and NJ Transit Built—and Killed—Regional Rail to the Meadowlands The 8-year rise and fall of a tri-state experiment in regional integration, and what it means for the 2026 World Cup Howard Permut (Metro-North), Helena Williams (MTA interim executive director), and Richard Sarles (NJ […]

The Center City Commuter Connection

Key Insights • The Infrastructure: A 1.7-mile, $330 million tunnel united the Pennsylvania and Reading railroad networks in 1984. • The Impact: Eliminated downtown transfers, saving 2,500 daily person-hours and enabling direct suburb-to-suburb travel. • The Unmet Potential: Despite physical capacity rivaling Munich’s S-Bahn, funding crises and operational choices have prevented true high-frequency metro service. […]