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Construction Physics ·Behind the news

US Subways Build Too Many Cross Passages

by Brian Potter

Published 2026-06-25 13:55:49+00:00

If European subways are just as safe, why do American ones need twice as many escape tunnels?

0:00 / 13:21 · Narrator Charon

Context

When American transit projects run over budget, the public usually blames vague bureaucratic bloat. Published on 25 June 2026, this piece from Construction Physics names a much more concrete culprit: a single, outdated fire safety rule. The diagnosis holds up because it abandons the usual broad complaints about infrastructure to isolate one specific, fixable regulation—a code that forces American cities to dig twice as many underground escape tunnels as European ones, without actually making anyone safer.

Show notes

An examination of how fire safety standards inflate the cost of building new subways in the United States. A comparison of US and European regulations shows that American projects mandate twice as many connecting tunnels without achieving better safety outcomes. The analysis outlines specific policy mechanisms for transit agencies and federal regulators to adopt international spacing rules and reduce construction expenses.

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