The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-02

A Word or Two About New Haven Street
 Payements-A weii Known ciussns
 Views.
 To tho Editor of the JounsAb AND couhikM
 Dear sir:-I noticed with much in- terest some recent references in your columns to the importance Of good street pavements.
 have been in Buffalo several times lately and have had opportunity to see and learn something about their sys- tenn of paving the streets. There are. l think. some one hundred and fifty miles of concrete pavement in the city Of Buf- falo. Some streets have now been paved in this way for sixteen years and not dollar Of expense has been in- cured in repairing them. Pipes are laid every fifty feet for water. sewer and gas connections. thus making It necessary to constantly tear up the streets when new residences are built. There Is a system also of cutting out the concrete pavements In blocks when repairs are made and of placing them back neatly. After heavy rain the streets there look almost as clean as If they had been swept with broom. asked a friend who Is a manufacturer of carriages and who does a great deal of driving about the streets. If the pavements were not slippery In wet weather. He said there had never been any serious complaint about this. Coming back from Buffalo to New Ha- ven, which Is one of the most beautiful cities in the country. the contrast be- tween Buffalo streets and those of our own city is very striking. It Is aston- ishing that the people will submit to the mud, dust, ruts and the great ex- pense of such street paving system as we have here. Take for example the street car tracks; the street car lines on some of the streets are practically given the entire use of the street be- tween the tracks, for they are paved with great cobble stones which really prevent driving on them. This is mo- ticeably true on Whitney avenue, one of the finest streets of our city. The public, of course have the right of way from one side of the street to the other and the hills and valleys and mud 1 holes thereon, but that Is about all they get. Now suppose such street as Whitney avenue was concreted, tho public would then regain the use oi the space between the rails, as they could of course drive back and forth l for the concrete would come hp very | closely to the rails, which would pre- vent the danger of breaking wheels ol unnecessary jar in driving on or cross ing the tracks. Concreting would prac tically give large portion of eacf | street back to the public.
 I have no definite figures as to ex l pense, but surely the interest on bondi sufficient to pave the streets of Nev Haven would not begin to equal thu annual expense for repairing and keep ing the streets in even their presen wretched condition. The fact is w have nothing that can readily be calle' good streets. All the leading streets o the city ought to be paved and tn work done at about the same time.
 In Atlanta, Georgia, I noticed tha certain of the streets are being covere' with sheet asphalt, while the principa streets through the center of the cit are awaiting their turn, suppose, j. coming years. That is good as far as goes, but the contrast Is very strikin when one passes from the asphal ! efr atc fN ha y,,,,d1xy nd y,pnr1xy no business section of the city. I hope n such system will be adopted in Ne Haven. If 1t Is worth doing at all it
 worth doing well, and at the sam time it also avoids any question of fs voritism or giving to one section of tn lefty what is denied until some later da some other section.i Let 1t he done all the principal streets at the san
 time or as nearly so as possible. Ne
 Haven makes me think sometime when driving through its uneven stree
 with pools of stagnant water in tf
 gutters and mud puddles, of a ma
 otherwise very finely dressed, but C
 whose feet are ill-fitting shoes covere
 with filth and slime. One hardly re,
 lizes until he goes through such eli
 as Buffalo what difference it mak' in city, and even in the appearan' of the residences, to have a clean, wei kept pavement. .. ,,...''
 hope the Journal and Courier'' w take interest in this, and that we w see this reform brought about with } the next few months: We might well do it now as to wait years for Five thousand bicycle riders and oth
 thousands of teamsters and carria
 owners will give you their hear
 thanks for any aid yoN may feel Ill giving to secure this much desired T
 suit. Respectfully,
 JOHN c. COLLINS