The sun., 1894-12-27
IT WILL COST S66,OOO,OOO |!
sNsINssR PAHsoT's WIDER
GROUND RAILWAY EsTIMhTEs.

.. Ezpe,a Bot sso.eeooee. ne Proposes
- No se-s Curtsiii,s-A Csnrittse ~
F,v. Expert. 20 ne Appei-tes 20 Report
.- Mr.. Psr,.-'s Fl... .,s E-t-stes,
whieh Ce-ts-pi.t. . Feur-tr.ek T---si
n Bre.swsy. - Tvo-traek T-nneis n
Ei- s.s Chursh Streets s.a Their Ap-
pre.ehes s.s Ce.ti.,st,s-.. r-e- so-th
Ferry 70 Feurtse.th Street, VITA
ur..eh.. Extsnsi-e 80 Ei.essrisee ..s
wiui.,ssrt1ge-The Experts May Dis
approve ef His r1sn, Just ss NE Dissp-
prev.. OF Thes. sf ths OLE Ce--issis-.
The Rapid Transit Commission held its last
meeting Of the year yesterday st It's ofnces In
the Home Life building Alexander Il. Orr
tbe President: Seth Low, John Clsfin. William
steinwsy, and John H. Inman were present.
The subject Of the days discussion vase
report which Chief Engineer w. b. Parsons
presented. This report brought before the
Commission in concrete form the chief engineer
ing difficulties which the Commission and its
engineers have recognized as having to be met
In laying out and constructing rapid transit
underground route, and in IL Mr.. Parsons sug-
Gs,ts a way Of overcoming some of them. ,
The main source Of these troubles ls that part
OF the route Or routes which will lie below Four
teenth street. Above that street the underly-
ing rock comes close 70 the surface. and tun-
nelling can be carried on through this with
comparative cheapncss and expedition, either
by opening the surface Of the streets or By work.
iny entirely under ground. Tho avenues, too.
are wide and comparatively free from encroaoh-
ing sidewalk vaults. 20 that roads with four
tracks on level could bc built almost anywhere.
II needed.
Below Fourteenth street the rock lies deeper,
and over Il are beds Of unstable sands. The
great buildings which line Broadway would
render tunnelling through these sands at any
great depth very unsafe operation. Along .
great part Of this route. too, sidewalk vaults
tend to the curb line, and these would have TO
be cut into and part of them occupied in order
10 get room for four-track road such a. has
boen advocated and Professionally adopted. The
practical impossibility Of making such sub
way without tearing up the whole street and
stopping trafio on the cable road has been ad-
mitted-
To overcome these difficulties several plans
have been proposed and considered. Ono was
the Reno plan Of construction. Mr.. Reno pro-
poses to substitute for the four tracks on level
road double-deck design, In which the four
tracks would be carried In couples. two above
and two below, in big divided tunnel. This,
he says. could bo driven below the street and
its surface road and sewers by means Of steel
shield. Just a. the North River has been in part
tunnelled.
Other suggestions have been to change the
route TO some street Just TO the east or west of
Broadway. The advantages Of Broadway for
tho route lie in the fact that It 10 the back bone
Of the lower part Of the city, lying higher than
any other street ahd having no main sewer In
Il. besides being the natural line of trafic.
Mr.. Parsons was instructed some tirnsa ago %
report upon all these matters and 70 associate
with himself Alphonso Fteley and Theodore
Cooper. He has made partial reports verbally
% The % proyisonai I plans I provided row for space of
forty -four feet In width. for four tracks. and
vaults about two and . half feet on each side Of
the street II was also proposed to use specially
oop;trPsssa Mr Psrsano,. 10y ,snor. Ssss; ..v,,
The objections to the Professionally adopted
sFirst.Ths cross section Is entirely too small
for the safe and efficient working OF Q rapid
transit railroad. Where fast trains win DO run:
night il is Necessary 70 provide more acconmo.
dation for inspectors and traokmen than Is done
are hs
able faith In their % own safety and devote their
sss With cs1s simss 70 tSoss used n on the
Manhattan Railway, . width of nfty feet In the
clear between side wallis z in my oPiniSp, ths
Il he standsrd car OF the Manhattan Railway
the aas%R kysr the New YORK.
New Haven and Hartford Railway, and on the
York Central Railroad. and In order that the
rapid transit railway may have similar facil-
surface railways it appears advisable TO accept
such car as the size 70 be run on the proposed
RsSi. .s Of ne FEET nshss
sscond@TRs professionally adopted plans
Il was shown in my report OF Nov. 20. 1894. that
Broadway has sewers for ea per sent of its
strueted In advance of the railway work and
FOR the eonstrus,ioa 60 of savers Along the balance
OF the route. The reconstruction OF the, sewers
street tire % surface Ths railway and sewers " would I
require total width OF at least o2 feet; such q
wdfh would % not only SssSpy large part q the
the excavation for the railway 80 close 10 the
building. x e require oIss I%osnt oE e under.
Win great .fisi. inyciyss p many sSatiS,
estimate almost impossible.
"Third-Ths construction Of . four-track
The S .uffass OF the street. involves tannsiiins
methods that are without president The sue
and and tSs great sisfs % al the nislss.s involved
do not justify their consideration: broadway Il
act the PLACE for sfPs5in%snsI % S Ths only prScti-
stracted would be BY open cut. although the OBJ
,sss,9iha ,ai'i a. e rsauirnE undsrpdnnml9g m Of the
fights would stiii remain. ~ ''''''"
The O6jectiqns p = dOub ubls-dsek plan, espe-
eiAily n clear height IN each tunnel OF thirteen
feet were required, arc;
!" First-A much deeper excavation. keeping
the street open for longer periods, due 70 the
greater concentration OF work. and involving
The undeTpInning OF foundations.
"Second-fhe upper tracks would not be on q
solid foundation, and would therefore increase
the vibration and noise.
"Third-The distance from the street level 20
the platforms OF the lower tracks would ganer-
ally necsssitats elevators.
The eonstFuctlon Of four-traok road in
Broadway BY any plan will be open 70 many OBJ
lsctions. BroAdwAy is ct present the only
ihor9aSh Shfars in the lover pArt Of re city Il 4
AZ times = very heavy. These conditions will
innleh an Increased cost on the eonstruetloh Of
railway, and the eTowdinG OF the work Of
build, building the latter in an already eSngestsd
stfest NU1 interfere with lts regular business.
result equally advantageous 10 the city at
bnli can Be Aeeompllshsd IN ny opini9n BY
t9q1Fe through Res Kim street 20 the CITY
haA. And thence tsO-tTaek line through Mas
ss 80 80 broad stTseis 70 the South Ferry. This
Sen oe sepplementsd &C any time. II desired. By |
r. tso-tfack road from Union square through |
bntsfsls{ place, Grssns and Church streets " |
h. aaaNn