Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-09-15
MUNICIPAL MATTERS.
Business Transacted at Last Night
 Special Council Meeting.

 special meeting last evening. The first business was a resolution of the road board recommending change of grade on Burnham street. The report was adopted.
 City Engineer Cairns presented re- port on a new layout and survey for Bank street at the New England cross ing, as follows:
 "In compliance with an order of the board of road commissioners, herewith submit a statement of the last step which that board has taken in the mat ter of widening Bank street at the New York 6 New England railroad crossing, in Brooklyn, with the reasons which led | up to this action.
 "Early in the year the attention of the | board was called by the mayor to the matter of carrying out the orders of the railroad commissioners, as affirmed by | the superior court, for the conversion of | the grade crossing at Bank street to one beneath the railroad track. An eXami- | nation of the locality by the city engi- | neer was ordered, and revealed the | great need of a wider street to accommo- date the steadily increasing pressure of travel at that point. It was evident | that to take narrow and crOokt d street, as Bank street is at that crossing, and to depress it to such an extent as is proposed. building up heavy abutment | | down grades from both directions meet
 ing under wide and low bridge, and at
 a sharp ang le in the street, could never | be anything but unsatisfactory under
 favorable conditions, and highly dan
 gerous during periods of unusual traffic
 Examination of the records, moreover
 showed that the city has no legal right
 to land now occupied for some distance
 by the north sidewalk, and that when
 the railroad company placed their north abutment on the legal street line, as they claim, the street would be made much
 narrower even than it is at present. To
 allow the change of grade to be made
 on these lines would result in reducing
 much travelled thoroughfare, and ihe
 main entrance to that portion of the
 city, to a mere alley way. Moreover,
 after the work had been done and the
 street closed in walls of massive mason
 ry fifteen feet high, and iron bridges
 built across, it would be almost impossi
 ble to obtain relief in the future.
 ''On the third of June the mayor and
 the city engineer were appointed com
 mittee to investigate and report on the feasibility and cost of having Bank } street, Brooklyn, widened to forty-eight
 feet ln con junction with the operation of lowering sad street so as to pass be- , heath the tracks. The city engineer l made plan with map, and several con- sultatiOns were held with Mir Bidwell, , the chief engineer of the New England , road, and with MT Plume, director of said road. MT Bidwell had plans of the f necessary structures made, both for the f present forty foot street and for the pro-
 posed forty-eight foot street, and stated ) that he estimated the additional s cost for the longer span at between nine f and ten thousand dollars. This calcu- lation of MT Bldwells was based upon 2 the assumption that the railroad would : at once proceed to build a four-track t: bridge across the street, involving a s great increase of both iron work and - masonry.
 E '.In view of the fact that there never !; has been but one track at this crossing
 and that the probability of their building S such an extensive structure seems quite 2 remote; in view also, of the apparently e excessive amount of damage estimated t by them, the board of road commission. V CTS th' ught best to proceed with the I matter in the regular manner as legally t provided, leaving the board of compen. n sation to determine the question of dam Il age and benefits, They summoned al r property owners interested to d hearing $ in regard to widening said Bank street q At the hearing the railroad compan, D was represented by MT Plume aud Nil }. Bidwell, and claimed no damages fol ,: the Idnu proposed to De taken. AL
 meeting cid on Friday evening last
 the l1th day of September, the board o
 road commissioners recommended t,
 the common council the adoption ant
 proposed new layout, as estimated bN Is the city engineer. This plan is modi }. ficatIon of the plan originally submitted
 having been changed in accordance witt ', suggestions of Mir Bidwell. It provides Il a street forty y-eight feet wide, all tn,
 uav from RiCprSi6a St trapt th tba Naura s, tuck river, with a sidewalk eight fee l. wide on each side, and a roadway thirty
 two feet wide between the cuTbS. Tn, l, lines of the street are made more regular J. and the crossing of the tracks is at bet
 ter angle. The board considers that l |. the railroad company has made an eX
 orbitant claim for damages by reason o r. the lengthening of their bridges, the
 board of compensation is the proper au
 thority to investigate the matter, an,
 make an equitable award, and the boarC
 would further suggest that if the rail :. road company does not at present neet D. the additional tracks it would be possible
 for the board of compensation to award y them proportional damages. That is t, IT. say, supposing the railroad compan, build a two track bridge at present, tn el city could pay the extra cost of a two S' track bridge at present and engage t.
 pay the additional cost on the bridge fo eS the third and fourth tracks wheneve h. the railroad company should find it nee
 essary to construct them. In this Wa, Ill the present additional cost might b much less than the ten thousand dollar u claimed by the railroad company, am
 not more than would be most wiseI
 spent on such an important, public i'm
 prOvement."
 m Attorney Terry was to be present i ', the interest of the railroad, with a cor '' tract to be signed by the city. The COT .;s tract was that the road agreed to bull " d forty-eight foot bridge and waive a n claims to damages providing the cit m would pay the cost of building the extr ,r eight feet on the bridges which the ~ placed at S1O,O0O. This amount was t n, pay for a four track bridge, but tn m proposition specified that the city nee ns pay the amounC only as the track wa
 laid. This would amount to only $2, ,5O as at first and $2, 300 more as each trac