Eric Pastroski — The Philly underground
Eric Pastroski — Less known underground
What don’t you know about the world you live in? Wherever you go past a building you pass by someone going through their daily lives with many secrets. Sometimes the secrets are under us. How would you feel knowing that there’s a mostly unknown abandoned ruin under your feet? A place that when you walk over you have no idea just the scale of. Many places such as cities across the world and especially the United States Tunnels are under much of the land. These tunnels may have been made for numerous reasons but others are rarely talked about. New York, Las Vegas and Philadelphia have underground tunnel systems that are abandoned for a number of reasons.
Across Philadelphia there have been a number of “Ghost” stations that need to be entered via a special way because of how they are closed off due to incomplete. These stations tend to be somewhat abandoned for a number of reasons and these locations are over the city including, 1300 block of Arch Street and on routes or near and around other active stations. One person who has been down to one of the stations with pictures as proof has reported on a forum post on the website NEOGAF that it reminded them of a post apocalypse video game, the station was under Broad St in the Center City loop. The Pictures showcases a roof of wood along with some having natural light from the sun coming down to light up the station along with dirty walkways with more trash than normal in an active subway station. Some of these places have people living down there aligned with it might be considered to be wasted taxpayer dollars.
But why is now considered a good time for people to be interested in unknown tunnels under a city. In January of 2024, the internet witnessed a situation in New York about a secret tunnel. The Internet watched a synagogue’s own secret tunnel be discovered during construction with a nearby apartment and fight between Police and worshipers which led to many conspiracy theories including some that are about the elite sex trafficking of people. Despite the conspiracy theories being unfounded the unknown factor of the tunnel still makes people wonder about it. In 2019 the psychological horror Film US is released, directed by Jordan Peele, this film features the tunnel system across the United States as a major part of the film with the intro’s title card showcasing it. The fictional use of the tunnels in the film along with the recent people help draw interest by many into the tunnel network with google trends showcasing an average amount of traffic on the search term United States Tunnels in March 2019 and a Massive increase in search traffic in January of 2024. As the Film states there are numerous not really known tunnels across the United States that also extend into Philadelphia.
An idea on how the whole tunnel idea comes from a famous project that has been in the proposal phase for over a century. Roosevelt Boulevard Subway was first proposed in 1913 however has made little to no progress being made as a part of a recent discussion from city council. Despite no construction on Roosevelt shows why some of these places are abandoned. One reason cited by a Philly mag was that the price of Roosevelt would have been $3 Billion in total cost. Despite the high price, Whyy PBS showcases opinions that Roosevelt station has a possibility to increase environmental impacts along with an increase of jobs and a bigger and better connection with the rest of Philadelphia.
The people of Philadelphia might feel scared or unaware of what’s going on in the city’s undergrounds along with wanting to know more. These abandoned tunnels could also be revitalized to serve a better portion of the community. The Center City Ghost station has been reported to cost up to $68.2 million from a defunct septa report that the Hidden City organization has made mention in an article in 2016. Recently Franklin Square Station has been worked on to repair and be used properly in transportation.
It would seem that people who are most involved are government officials that fund such projects. Whyy PBS reports in the same article that State Rep. Jared Solomon who sees to push for Roosevelt has gotten a following of 100 to meet and support the continue of Roosevelt.
When it comes down to it, The ghost tunnels under Philadelphia are just another small section that lay beneath our feet, it can also be considered treasure for future causes.
Citation
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