In 1910 New York City was bursting at the seams as more and more people crowded into a limited supply of housing in the tenement districts of Manhattan and the older areas of Brooklyn. With no outlet for its exploding population, and the burgeoning social problems created by the congestion, city and state leaders addressed the problem. In March 1913 public officials and officers of the two existing rapid transport networks agreed to a greatly expand subway system which would double the size of the two existing systems. At the time the largest and most expensive single municipal project ever attempted, the Dual System of Rapid Transport set the pattern of growth in New York City for decades to come.
