Metropolitan Transportation: A Program for Action, also known as simply the Program for Action, the Grand Design, or the New Routes Program,[1][2] was a proposal in the mid-1960s for a large expansion of mass transit in New York City, created under then-Mayor John Lindsay. Originally published on February 29, 1968, the Program for Action was one of the most ambitious expansion plans in the history of the New York City Subway. The plan called for 50 miles (80 km) of tracks to be constructed, and more than 80% of the new trackage was to be built in the borough of Queens. The $2.9 billion plan also called for improvements to other modes of mass transit, such as the present-day Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad commuter rail systems, and further integration between mass transit and the New York City-area airport system.
Transport improvements built under the Program for Action were supposed to relieve overcrowding on existing transit modes in the New York City area. However, even though many of the lines and transport connections proposed in the Program for Action were approved, New York City nearly went bankrupt in 1975, causing all but two of these projects to be canceled due to a lack of funds. The remaining projects, the 63rd Street and Archer Avenue lines, were both dramatically truncated from their original lengths, and both lines opened much later than originally projected. In total, only six stations and 15 miles (24 km) of tracks were added under the Program for Action.[2]