Every major advance for the city subways and buses has been won in coalition. That was the case for one of the biggest victories for transit riders in the last quarter century: The defeat of the Westway highway project, a proposed $1.7 billion mega-highway to be built in and through the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west Side.

A coalition of civic and environmental groups — from the Sierra Club to the Clean Air Campaign to the Straphangers Campaign — joined with community boards and local elected officials to take on two Governors and two Mayors. The coalition called for “trading in" the federal highway funds earmarked for Westway to transit and for building a park along the Hudson River.

Since Westway’s defeat in 1985, $1.4 billion in funds that would have gone to the highway instead have flowed to fix city subways and buses. These precious dollars have meant new subway cars and buses, the replacement of ancient track and signals, and the upgrading of decrepit subway stations. Some lament Westway’s demise and call it a symbol of a city that can’t get things done. But they ignore the millions of transit riders who benefit everyday.

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