Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-22
sUBwAYs FOR THE STREETS.

A proposition has recently been made in
New ork for the establishment of system
of subways which shall be used in common,
not only by the corporations already having
subterranean lines but, shall give
room for future additions. This is move
ment in the direction of a reform the need
of which Pittsburg has frequently ex-
perienced, and the outlines of which have
heretofore been suggested in these columns.
One OF the greatest enemies of permanent
and lasting pavements in a city is the
liability Of every pavement to be torn up
for the sake of laying underground pipes or
conduits Of some sort. A street is provided
with new and smooth pavement, and the
inhabitants pay their assessments and find
great solace for the cost in the splendid
character of the street. But six months or
a year afterward, the pavement is cut up
for laying gas or water pipes, or for sewer
connections, or for putting down electric
conduits; or for some other purpose
developed by the march of human in
vention.
1t is gratifying to note that the city
authorities have generally reached the point
of requiring sewers and water pipes to be
laid before the grading and paving is done;
but that rule is not universal, and even if it
were, it does not cover the whole ground.
If one of the numerous underground lines
gets out of repair the street must be torn up
forthwith. The work of getting the over
head electric wires is indefnity postponed,
on account of the expense of condults, and
the public dislike to having the pavements
torn up. Finally every time that pavement
is taken up for any of these purposes, the
difficulty of replacing it upon as solid and
even a foundation as the old one, depre-
ciates the value of that particular piece of
pavement fifty per cent If not more.
To forbid these underground construc-
tions would be to stop human progress, and
so the public endures this constant depre-
citation of its pavements, as if in entire
ignorance that the damage could be pre-
vented and even an economy in cost effected
by constructing in the first instance an
underground conduit of sufficient size to
accommodate all present and future under
ground lines. Take any street under which
are laid a sewer, water main, natural and
fuel gas lines and an electric conduit. The
cost of separate excavation, and laying of
each of these lines-with the replacing of
the pavements for most of them-would
more than pay for the construction of SUBJ
way which would accommodate them all,
permit any of them to be reached for in
spection and repair, and have room lett for
the lines OF new companies and new inven-
tions. When such subway was built, the
pavement could be constructed with tho
intention and assurance of permanence. AT
present what object is there to lay solid and
enduring pavements that are liable to be
torn up within the first year after they are
finished?
Such plan promises not only an i'm
provement in the permanence of streets and
a relief from the constant tearing up of
pavements, but an actual saving in the
long run on the cost of the underground
lines. When tcity government is raised
from its present hap-hazard methods to an
intelligent and scientific system, we may be
sure that such subways will be among the
many reforms that ensue.