New-York tribune., 1868-04-06
GIVE US AY UNDERGROUND R4LLRolD

IL would be matter of rejoicing if after years Of
endurance of the delays and untold mschiefS attend
ing the over-crowded condition of Broadway. and
after investigating and discarding the many i'm
practicable schemes which have been urged for its
relief the agitation should result in plan at oncs
ample economical safe, and satisfactory 10 most OF
the property holders the street and to the public
We do not know that any road meets these require
ments and in anything we have to say We shall bs
governed by desire TO have one road, no matter
what interests may control it, The Arcade bull has
already passed the House. 1t is in a condition to
have its merits tested and think they should be
fairly tested. Experiments in Europe are not in all
respects favorable to the elevated railway. Tho
Arcade Railway or rather street it Is claimed, would
be almost an incident in the great improvement. It
would be constructed By taking away the present
surface Of Broadway, between the areas. and relay
ing the street q surface supported by iron arches
and columns, leaving lower story to the whos
thOroughfare, including the sidewalks. upon which
the present Easements of Broadway Will front.
The street thus made would be occu'
pied by two double tracks-one for swift, through
travel and the other for slow or way passengers and
by sidewalks for foot passengers The latter would
be separated from the only by iron gratings il
they were not entirely open and thus the whole
wide, through the areas on each side 1t would be
new Broadway underneath the present, light airy,
wide, and one-stOry high. While tunnel from tho
Battery TO Central Park would cost s2250O,0OO tho
Arcade. it is estimated, would cost only 10000
per mile. or 100000 for the entire dis
tance. Ii would accommodate l60 600 passengers
per annum or half million day. Engineers tes-
tfy that all the stores erected BI0adway within
twenty years have foundations low enough not to be
disturbed by the arcade plan We have been fos
wenty years unconsciously preparing Broadway foe
a road Of some kind. The petitions of the property
holders on the thoroughfare are as unanimous in its
favor as the vote in the Assembly. Mr.. Stewart il
the only prominent owner opposingt. Itwould pass
passengers from his upper to his lower store on
Broadway in about four minutes. The time from
Union-square to the City Hall on the express
would be but five minutes instead Of the twenty-five
which ii now occupies. Residents above Central
Park found il more difficult to get down town during
the SHOWS Of last Winter than many who lived -
miles out in the country. The arcade would be pro.
tected from the cold, SHOWS slush winds. and tedi
Gus delays of Winter and from the heat dust mud.
and rains of Spring and Summer As passengers
could stop at all points and take the sidewalk. either
below OF above. the present Easements on Broadway
would become nearly as valuable the first hoors.
without diminishing the value of the latter.
These are the points of the Arcade plan. We pro-
| sent them as matters Of news. New-iork demands
an underground railroad Of some kind. Every citi'
zeu especially every workingman feels the necessI'
ty of some plan by which half-mlion OF tired.
busy, anxious men may be lifted in half-hour from
the narrow streets and crowded marts OF lower New
York into the high and bracng shores OF tho Harlem
and the Hudson, and Long Island Sound Lei sot@
bill be passed If the Arcade plan is impossible let Is
be amended. We do not want any special road lei
us have a good one of some kind Since New'iork
brought water from Croton there is no enterprise
more deserving than the one now before the Senate.
Gire MS q road!