New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-05-29
terest:

static. RssSssr,s s ssSS' i
Ems extension at s aS0at about
Tbrd.ave elevated station at Ninth-st about. s1S
Elmst extension at sthss about Fcar;:en;h.s '
Thrd0ave elevated station at FOurteenth-st., M,
Elm.s, extension at Fourtsenih-st about. 100
It will thus be that the average distance from
Broadway. at any point between the CITY nan anu
Fourteentf-st to any elevated road station now ex-
listing is more than three times as great as II would
be to the Elm-st extension. and that the latter IN
most instances would be scarcely more than min
ute's walk
FROM CITY HALL TO JEROME PARK.
From the City Hall to the Grand Central Station
Is about three miles. Along the Elrn-st extension.
100 feet wide from City Hall Park to Fourth-aVe.,
and Fourth-ave. 100 feet wide to the Grand central
Station. there Is hardly one tall building The COST
of a first-class four-track. underground road for
these three miles can be exactly fixed and stated oy
any Of our leading engineers Instead OF disturbing
the traffic OF Broadway and the vast network OF
pipes beneath It, It will greatly relieve that franc
and will move no foot Of that piping
In the ward of the Grand Central Station there are
now over thirty tracks, yet they are scarcely equal
TO the congested traffic there to-day How VIII they
meet the needs of ten years hence. or even OF nve
when the complaints of passengers at the defectVe
service have long since become so chronic that they
seem 10 pass unheoded? All along the line, clear 10
the Harlem, costly houses are packed and iand IL
scarce and expensive. Instead Of further patching
at vast outlay. a system built for the demands Oh q
quarter OF century ago. and unequal 20 those OF TO-
dav TO say nothing Of the future. suppose that
the Central. Harlem and New-Iiaven roads should
erect a commodous terminal station AZ or near
Bronx Park Gust 10 the east OF Jerome PARK ana
Fordham) and make that their southern terminus
Much Of the land about there Is little improved. ana
can be had cheap and In abundance for the demands
raflr adj
Haven road along the other the Harlem ROAD while
less than miles west IL the Hudson River station
at Kingsbridge. opposite spuyten Duyvii Let them
lease for the underground service the eight miles
from Jerome Park to Fory-second-st for niney-n'ne
wears The terms OF that lease could be arranged
and made clear and simple and fair and amply re-
muneratlve 10 both sides. The outlay for the two
items namely that Of laying the three miles OF ROAD
and of leasing these eight miles would not approach
the large amount of the recent plan: would relieve
all fear OF harm the public credit. and would sup
ply the city from end to end with four-track, swift
transit most OF It already built on the modern
and approved methods. yet practically nafmins no
one.
ELECTRIC EXPRESS TRAINS.
The other day. on the Mount Holly division OF
the PENNSYLVANIA Railroad. electric cars OF ruu
size travelled nearly sixty miles an hour Tor seven
miles part OF the way up stiff grade. Electric ex-
press trains should run the seven straight level
twenty -hfth-st IN ten minutes. and 70 the new
union station In fifteen minutes. No smoke. no
steam In a tunnel ventilated at every block with
the most effective appliances and brilliantly lighted
throughout with electricity fog proof. snowproof.
interruptions proof IDEAL railway line could be made
without one disturbing element. Instead OF the
cockoft stepladders TO the elevated which one fat
woman now so effectually blocks when you are try
ing to pass her 10 catch train and make the Grand
Central. modern broad starcases of in all only
a few steps would make access and egress easy.
Six thousand soldiers and 900 barely equal
10 guarding the scattered tracks Of Brooklyn
against mob violence only little while ago hun
bred bayonets would keep every entrance to this
road clear from and 10 the other two-track
road under City Hall Park dixie the new Boston
subway. down Park Place TO Church-st., and under
that to the Battery. would supply the lower city.
With tho main Ine chiefly express It would re-
eve the present elevated and surface roads that the
latter would at least give each passenger seat (and
even electric light the elevated might not be
too much 10 ask for them) while. OF course, there
could be way service as well. The heaviest traf-
hc the elevated is by Third-ave. but this, being
so near Fourth, would entirely relieve that.
While this plan would insure swift transit TO Har-
lem ana the central and eastern parts OF the upper
city plenty OF express trains and an additional
track In Ninth-ave. would supply the West Side.
not with trains going fifty sixty miles hour.
but twenty or twenty-five miles a great improve
get and from Harlem by the West Side could
then go quickly bv the new route.
HUDSON RIVER BRIDGE PLANS
But the benefit would not stop there For years
We have been reading Of bridge across the Hud-
son. and at intervals have seen pictures Of 1t, no
two being just alike. The latest price named for
the whole project is $4,000. Goa round sum. There
five trunk roads running into Jersey City and
Hoboken. the termin OF 10000 miles Of road
ering almost tho whole North. West and South
Every great railroad needs for passengers alone, at
It's chief or passenger terminal station. at least
two inbound and two outbound tracks. These five
great systems ought then to have at least twenty
terminal tracks as there are. already seen more
than thirty in the New-York Central passenger yard
alone to-day Indeed. thirty-track bridge across
the Hudson would scarcely be more than adequate
TO the passenger demands alone. to say nothing OF
the millions of tons OF freight OF these roads and
their heavy suburban feeders to-day not TO speak
OF twenty years or even ten years hence. Yet Just
how is this little bridge. with only three inbound
and three outbound tracks. going to handle this
unceasing, ever-swelling mighty tide OF traffic the
more especially when the deraiment OF half dozen
freight cars out the middle Of the fraii struct-
ure would clog the whole system for hours. per-
haps even for an entire day? Running into part
or the city where an acre OF land costs hundreds
of thousands OF dollars how will they provide yard
room here for the countless and for the prompt
handling OF their contents? How are they going to
got to and from the New-Haven Railroad the great
conduit. OF nearly all New Enslands manufac turers
to say nothing OF transferring passengers? The
bridge across the Mississippi at East st. Louis has
an asphalt causeway nfty-four feet wide. pleasant
alike for man. beast and bike. How is II that they
have wholly overlooked this fruitful source Of In
come a bridge TO connect the richest nation OF
the world with its metropolis?
Three Of the Ave trunk routes on the New-Iersev
sde-the West Shore. the Erie and the Lacka-
gneers gay that for S7.OO0O0o thlrty-track bridge
can be thrown across the Hudson at Its narrowest
point, one. in forty miles-namely from Fort
Lee TO Fort Washington. Our Maker has already
set the abutments Infinitely more solid, enduring
and tornado-proof than any In any Of the above
n ma MIMI