Crossing-critical edges and Kuratowski subgraphs of a graph (Q790824)

An edge e in a graph G is called crossing-critical if the crossing number of G is larger than that of G-e. It is shown that, if e is crossing- critical and G-e has crossing number at most 1, then e is contained in a subdivision of one of the graphs \(K_ 5\) and \(K_{3,3}\). Examples are described which show that this becomes false when G-e has crossing number 5 or more.