The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-06
OUR OBsrRUCTED STREETS.
Laying the Big Pipes" on Church Street.
Tenth and Fourth Avenues-The Incon-
venience Caused Thereby-Traf-
&c Seriously Impeded.

New York, in many portions OF It, at the present
time presents the appearance OF a city which had
been upheaved by an earthquake. 1t Is impossible
to travel upon any OF the street lines without
encountering at almost every point yawning cav
ties, heaps OF dirt piles OF stone and other obsruc
tions, which render transit dangerous and seriously
impede traffic. IL is no unusual thing to see
string OF cars containing hundreds Of people de-
tanned from this cause, the evil Is all the more
intolerabie from the fact that 1t admits OF easy
remedy. The apparent reason for the numerous
distractions that are TO be met with on the
streets rs the laying of the 'btg pipes"
thst fruitful source OF many miseries
lhs big pipes have descended to US from the
Tannany Ring, and for years they have occupied
prominent positions in the thoroughAres Of the
city. There is nothing wrong In the laying Of the
ppestn fact there lisa positive benent accruing to
the cisy's health from the workout the manner IN
which that work has been end is being done is
highly reprehensible. The pipes are brotght upon
the ground, the streets are torn mp to lay them
and the business seems in fair way OF completion
when suddenly a 1T Of economy seizes the financial
fathers OF the city, work is suspended for months
in dry weather, the holes winch have been made
BECOME pitfalls for the unwaSy, in wet weather
they develop into moving torrents whole streets
are made dilapidated and deSoate-looking. and all
syident 70 be done, and ttis - cheap to DO It one
3. < HlsALD reporter maze the tour OF many of
ne thoroughfares Of the city yesterday and every
vheee he encoQptsrsd these uns>ghuy dirt heaps
N ram e p sSs ana asd most
srstOcrasic parte OF sbe city seemed to be equally
ssone % EsssoD Gns S s
Sssss: "a 3snsS .yssuS ois pipes Up town ana
o2vsfious guists and stones -Besides being detri-
nentsi 70 travel system me ifis IN the present
al sides, must Dc. seriously Detrimental to health
p some PLACES TIE beds ioE the pipes are dlg 50
with garbage ana refuse Of every kind, and tss re-.
suit OF this can be easily imagined. The 'sickiy
odor permeates the atmosphere, which becomes
laden with Infection, and fevers OF every kind be-
are unfortunate enough to have attracted the
attention OF the Board OF Public Works. "- ~
numerous other causes which help p to block the
streets. The scanoding ana mountains OF brick
and mortar In front OF many unfinished buildings
up town; the stands OF every kind which swarm
on the sidewalks In the vicinity OF Washington
and Fulton markets; the wagons and carts along
the line OF the Ninth avenue cars, and nnumerable
other hindrances give the streets OF New York an
appearance which 1t would be impossible to equal
IN any other well ordered city in the world.
q During the past two weeks pipes have been laid
along Church street. Church street Is the great
commercial street OF the CITY, Here are many of
the largest wholesale houses, and the traffic on 1t
Is unceaslng from sunrise to sunset IL is a very
narrow tboroughfare-so narrow that two wagons
can scarcely pass each other. The University
place cars which carry more passengers than
any other line In the city, with the exception OF
the Third avenue line, pass through this street,
and 1t is rare that car can make trip the
length Of the street without being INSTRUCTED
on the way. The tearing up OF the street
for the pipes makes matters ten times worse,
but, Notwithstanding all this, the force of men who
were employed upon the work were miserably In
adequate to hasten 1t through in proper time, and
serious Inconvenience has been caused to the bust
ness interests Dy this strange hardness and penny
wise pound foolish poncy. The work Is not yet
completed, and the rain OF yesterday hooded the
street with water and mud, In which the pedes-
trian sank almost to his knees
II things are bad in the downtown streets they
are Infinitely worse higher up. Fourth avenue,
from FOrty-secOnd street up to Yorkville Is COM
pletely torn up by the Hudson River Railroad CON-
pany, who are making improvements. The street
presents fearful appearance and Is utterly Invested
OF beauty. Heaps OF stones, mountains OF dirt,
gaming holes salute the eye every side. Work is
progressing slowly and 1t will be months before the
street resumes Its usual appearance. Since the
avenue was dug up accidents have been Of fire.
quent occurrence, and many broken legs and arms
may be attributed to this fruitful cause OF disaster
Fortunately business is not very lively far up
the avenue; IL it were It would severely suffer.
Third avenue is not so much dsfgured as Its sister
tnoroughfare but in many places the distractions
are numerous enough TO be q source OF much
anxiety to car conductors and their passengers.
In many Of the other thOrOughfares OF the city the
same distractions more or less prevail, and 1t
would be well If the Board OF Public Works took
prompt measures to remove them.