All posts tagged: USA

New Official Map: Denver RTD Rail and Flatiron Flyer Map, 2018

January 19, 2018
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I’ve had quite a few calls to review this map over the last day or so, with people calling it “interesting”, “quite something” and just plain “bad”. It certainly continues the somewhat haphazard evolution of the system map over the last couple of years as more lines have opened, that’s for sure. Visually, it has quite a bit in common with the last iteration I reviewed a year ago, though the most obvious change is the expansion of […]

Submission – Historical Map: Lines of the Lincoln, Nebraska Street Railway, 1892

December 16, 2017
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Submitted by Ethan, who says: Thought you might enjoy this hand-painted streetcar map of Lincoln, Nebraska from 1892 (Link to high-res PDF). I particularly enjoy the attempt at route colors and what appear to be marked stops. Transit Maps says: Oh, I definitely do enjoy this one, Ethan! From the blue background and white linework, it looks as if this may have originally been a blueprint drawing of the city that’s then been embellished by […]

Project: Amtrak Timeline Map, 1971-2017

November 9, 2017
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Here's a fun little project: an interactive timeline of Amtrak's passenger rail routes from its inauguration in 1971 through to the current day. Using the extensive Amtrak timetable archives over at the Museum of Railway Timetables (well worth a visit!), I've created maps in five year increments -- 1971, 1976, 1981, etc. -- that show the changing face of passenger rail in the United States over the last 40-plus years. Click through to inspect the map!

Historical Map: Lines of the Utah Light & Traction Co., Salt Lake City, 1940

October 27, 2017
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A great old map of transit from Salt Lake City, showing bus lines (in green), trolleybus lines (in red, and curiously referred to as “electric coaches”, a designation that only seems to have been used here), and the one last remaining streetcar line (in blue). Even that seems to be on its last legs, as the legend says that Line 5 could be served by “street car or gas bus”. I believe the last streetcar ran in […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: The Aloha Trailway, Oahu, Hawaii by Tony Barnhill

October 25, 2017
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Submitted by Tony, who says: Hi, I created this map because I always wished someone would. I am not a designer, I am an IT Manager. Please let me know what you think! Transit Maps says: For an IT manager, this is a pretty accomplished effort, Tony! (And it just goes to show how little we should define ourselves by one label – everyone is capable of excelling at so many different things.) Really, this […]

Photo: Vintage MBTA Red Line Order of Stations Sign

October 22, 2017
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Submitted by Linda, who says: MBTA Red Line Order of Stations (Harvard to Ashmont) sign on old retired Red Line car, Transit Day 2017, Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, ME. Transit Maps says: A diagram of services along a rail line is – in its most basic form – nothing more than a list of stations served, so this sign actually works quite efficiently. It’s also similar to many railroad timetables, which read down for service […]

Historical Map: Map Showing Indianapolis as a Steam Railroad and Interurban Center, 1907

October 17, 2017
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Here’s an absolutely wonderful diagram of rail in Indianapolis in 1907 that pares everything down to the absolute minimum required to tell the story. 43 completely evenly-spaced railroad lines (representing 18 steam lines and 25 interurbans, according to the source) enter the city, which is encircled by the aptly named Belt Railroad. The names of those 43 outer destinations spiral dramatically around the edge of the map, though the flow is perhaps broken a bit […]

Historical Map: Subway-Surface Lines, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1978

September 22, 2017
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Here’s a great late-1970s diagram that I haven’t seen before of Philadelphia’s subway-surface trolley lines. From the looks of things, this might well have been a strip map within the trolley cars themselves. The subway-surface lines are given full prominence here, with the rest of Philly’s rapid transit rail system represented by very thin route lines mainly confined to the right third of the map. The five trolley routes are treated very diagrammatically, each following […]

Submission – Official Map: Boston MBTA Commuter Rail Zones Map

September 20, 2017
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Submitted by alr2659, who says: I found this map of the MBTA commuter rail zones in the Central Square T station on the red line in Cambridge. Strangely, this station does not have any commuter rail service, so I’m not sure why this was there at all. I guess I’ll start with the obvious part: those colors are pretty hideous, and the mud-brown color used for zone 1A does a really good job making it […]

New Project: The United States of Highway Shields

September 14, 2017
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Here’s a new “map” that I’ve designed – a cartogram of State Route or State Highway shields for each U.S. state, plus the District of Columbia. Each shield is numbered in the order that each state joined the Union, so Delaware is “1″, Pennsylvania is “2″ and so on… all the way up to D.C, which is cheekily represented with a “51?”, referencing the ongoing statehood debate there. I originally put this together as a quick Twitter post, as […]