Cincinnati's Abandoned Subway

Beneath downtown Cincinnati runs the largest abandoned subway system in the United States: 2.2 miles of Depression-era tunnels and partially completed stations that were built, then abandoned, and never used. The network was part of a 1916 plan to give Cincinnati a rapid transit system linking the hilltop neighbourhoods to downtown. Construction began in 1920 using the former Miami-Erie Canal bed as a foundation, but costs escalated and the project was halted in 1927, never to resume.

The Cincinnati Museum Center and the city government have periodically opened the tunnels for limited public tours. Outside of those events, the tunnels remain sealed. The visible entrance structures and ventilation shafts can be spotted if you know where to look, particularly near the Central Parkway.

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Cincinnati's subway was intended to carry 100,000 passengers per day. Construction started in 1920 using a converted canal bed, and by the time work stopped in 1927 — a casualty of rising costs and shifting politics — 2.2 miles of tunnel and several completed stations existed underground. The city has spent over a century debating what to do with them. They remain sealed, intact, and accessible only on periodic official tours.

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