Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

The Pacific Electric Railway once provided an extensive and efficient transit network in Southern California, but post-WWII policies and automaker interests led to its dismantling in favor of highways. This shift contributed to severe traffic congestion and pollution in Los Angeles. Today, the city is investing heavily in rebuilding its transit infrastructure, a costly endeavor that highlights the need for transit equity. Ensuring accessible, affordable, and efficient public transportation is crucial for sustainable urban development and reducing socioeconomic disparities. The history of the Pacific Electric Railway underscores the importance of prioritizing long-term benefits over short-term gains in urban planning.

We have recently updated our map image of abandoned railroad lines across North America. As there is no singular source of abandoned railroad corridors across the United States, let alone other countries, this project, now over 8 years in the making, is a way of creating an interactive, crowd-sourced repository for where abandoned railroad corridors exist, and we are incredibly proud that this map and data have been useful to numerous individuals and organizations, who are looking at ways of reusing these rights of way, creating trails, and re-linking urban and rural communities through alternative modes of transportation. There is an incredible opportunity within this data to rebuild strong, vibrant communities after the mistakes, intentional or otherwise, of transportation policy in the mid-late 20th century. Though we've rebranded to Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit, rest assured this data will continue to be available, and many thanks to our volunteers who have added numerous lines both in the US and abroad in the last year! You can view information on each single line on the interactive version of our map here: https://lnkd.in/g92rVFmR