Who would pay for a railroad that crossed the Hudson?
A regional rail plan reached the state legislatures. Why did the new transit district never exist?
Explore the caseRegional governance timeline
THE HISTORY OF DECISIONS NEW YORK · NEW JERSEY · CONNECTICUT
Follow the decisions that shaped a divided transportation region.
Regional transportation institutions took shape through agreements and disagreements over money, jurisdiction, representation and operating control. This chronology follows those decisions across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with links to the reporting and records behind them.
Begin with a historical conflict below, or use the complete timeline to trace events by date. The companion newspaper archive preserves the reports themselves. Event dates describe when something happened; publication dates describe when its sources appeared.
THREE PATHS INTO THE RECORD
Start with a consequential question.
Read the history, follow dated turning points, then examine the original evidence.
How did a regional planning commission lose its region?
Why could eleven affirmative votes fail to approve a regional plan—and how did the commission disappear?
Explore the caseWhat did a through train at Penn Station actually prove?
What did the football train demonstrate about coordinating railroads—and what remained untested?
Explore the caseArticles and other sources, arranged by publication date. Undated items appear separately.
32 items
1952
March 3, 1952
Planners Back Transit Study
RPA endorses the New York and New Jersey bills creating a metropolitan rapid-transit commission. Paul Windels argues that highway improvements cannot solve congestion without comparable rail investment and a region-…
1953
November 12, 1953
December 1, 1953
Regional Planning
The hearings held before the New York Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission, with a twin commission from New Jersey sitting in, renewed interest in the desirability of seeing the region's mass transportation needs w…
1955
October 4, 1955
Norton Is Leader in Transit Field
Profile of Henry K. Norton, author of an aerial-transit plan presented to the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission. The clipping includes a Manhattan loop map, suburban feeder network, overhead-rail illustration an…
1956
November 19, 1956
1957
May 25, 1957
1959
January 9, 1959
Official Agency To Plan Growth Of Region Urged
Report Asks Legal Status For Metropolitan Council As Goverment Adviser A proposal that the Metropolitan Regional Council receive “full and effective” legal status was put before the Regional Plan Association yesterd…
January 9, 1959
Text of Report Urging Full Legal Status for the Metropolitan Regional Council
Following is the text of a report on the future of the Metropolitan Regional Council, made public yesterday by the Special Committee on Metropolitan Governmental Affairs of the Regional Plan Association: Findings an…
April 22, 1959
Meyner Asks Action, Not More Study
TRENTON (AP) – What’s needed in the transit crisis is action, not more study, says Gov. Robert B. Meyner. His highway commissioner Dwight R. G. Palmer agrees. Both men were cool at a news conference yesterday to a p…
1960
February 20, 1960
Tri-State Transport Agency Regional Plan Group Backs
NEW YORK — The Regional Plan Association has endorsed the efforts of the Metropolitan Regional Council through its chairman, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, to establish a Tri-State Transportation Agency representing the st…
1962
February 28, 1962
June 7, 1962
1963
October 16, 1963
Tri-State Area Is Willing to Pay for Planning
By RALPH SODA NEW YORK — A survey of people in the 6,900-square-mile tri-state metropolitan area shows they favor regional planning to preserve their cities, protect their pleasant suburbs and improve transportation…
1964
February 18, 1964
The Tri-State Compact Viewed
Editorial explains why the governors’ informal Tri-State arrangement needed an interstate compact. Federal agencies wanted a durable legal structure, and future highway aid depended on regional transportation planni…
1965
March 15, 1965
N.J. Called Key Area In Tri-State Rail Plans
NEW YORK (AP)—The Regional Plan Association made a new plea yesterday for interstate action to avert a railroad commuter crisis. The voluntary planning group submitted a 12-point memorandum to government and railroa…
March 17, 1965
1973
March 30, 1973
1975
April 11, 1975
1976
July 16, 1976
July 16, 1976
1977
November 25, 1977
1982
February 3, 1982
February 4, 1982
1985
December 20, 1985
Coming by Trolley: A Waterfront Transit Revolution
EARLY IN the century, Henry Ford ignited a revolution by lowering auto prices to within reach of middle-class families. That revolution led to another when those families and their cars moved to the suburbs. That, i…
1987
May 4, 1987
Regional Planning Needn’t Usurp Local Authority
William B. Shore argues that regional planning can guide the economy, housing, traffic and waste through research and persuasion without taking local powers. He links Tri-State’s demise to its failure to turn resear…
1992
July 26, 1992
A New Chief, With an Rx in the Wings
Alan S. Oser profiles H. Claude Shostal and RPA’s third regional plan, including regional express rail across agency boundaries, Penn Station as an integrated hub, and the political barriers to implementation.
1994
November 2, 1994
Airport Rail Right-of-way Tour Led by RPA
Tri-State Campaign members toured proposed sites of the Port Authority's airport rail project in Jamaica Center and in Woodside, Queens, Monday, Oct. 31. Returning to Regional Plan Assn's office for an afternoon mee…
December 14, 1994
Giuliani Calls for Metro-North, LIRR Connections to Downtown
Contained in a forthcoming Giuliani Administration announcement of tax breaks and zoning changes designed to boost the economy of slumping downtown Manhattan are calls for initial steps to connect Long Island Railro…
1996
February 15, 1996
Remaking The Region: Port Authority, MTA Would Become New Regional Transit Authority
By DOUGLAS FEIDEN The Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should be dismantled to make the city’s giant transportation system leaner and meaner. That’s a cornerstone of a 25-year master plan…
2016
September 6, 2016
Is Tri-State Transportation Too Big to Plan?
By Stephen Miller A new federal rule could unify the New York region’s jumble of official transportation plans into a single vision for the entire metropolitan area. But some planning advocates worry the Obama admin…
2017
December 4, 2017
2020
November 23, 2020
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