The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-12
TUNNEL PLANS EXPLAINED.
ENGINEER PARSONS FIGURES OUT
MIC SAYING By THE NEW ROUTE.

end says This Car ne Reduced Can't
Tell How mach EHcavatinE naust ne Dons.
Tho three Commissioners appointed by the
Division Of tho Supreme Court to
take testimony and to report as to whether the
tunnel railroad proposed BY the Rapid Transit
Railroad Commission ought to be built or not
held another session yesterday afternoon. Will
liam Barclay Parsons, Chief Engineer Of the
Rapid Transit Railroad Commission, who was
on the stand when the session Of the day before
closed, resumed his testimony.
As o. basis for some future computation BY
tho commission or experts az to tho business
which the road might do, Mr.. Parsons produced
q table which showed tho entire number Of
passengers which have been carried each year
by all the railroads in this city for many years
past. He also produced for the Same general
purpose a table which he had procured from the
Board OF Health containing estimates Of the
population Of this city. year by year, for about
twenty-five years back, showing the steady In
crease Of population.
These papers were offered In evidence, but
Lawyer George Zabriskie, who appears for the
principal opponents Of the proposed railroad,
objected. BY questioning Mr.. Parsons no de-
veloped the facts that Mr.. Parsons had not pre-
pared tho first table himself nor gone over the
figures Of his assistant to see II they were cor
rect, and that there was no legal evidence 10
show that the second paper came from tho
Board Of Health, and upon these grounds the
Commissioners excluded the papers as evidence.
but had them marked for Identification.
Mr.. Parsons then produced a book Of draw
ings, showing the general plans of the proposed
road, with its routes and the prohles OF the sur
face of tho ground along these routes; also pro-
files of tho proposed tunnels and elevated roads
which will make up the two routes. He OK
planned the difference between the present plans
and those for the Broadway route which were
rejected a year ago by the Supreme Court. The
main differences, he said, were in avoiding
that part Of Broadway between the City
Hall and Thirty-fourth street, where tho
work Of construction would have been
enormously expensive and uncertain. and
in substituting q great deal Of elevated struc-
ture for the moro expensive underground sys-
tenn. BY the present plan there would be zoos
miles Of road built. reaching from and including
q loop around the Post ONCE to the KingsbridRo
station on the west side, and to Bronx Park and
the Boston road on the east side. This 10 nearly
two miles moro than the total length of the
older routes. but has two miles less Of
four-track tunnel. Instead of costing S49.-
600, 600, as Mr.. Parsons had estimated for
the Broadway route. the present one would
cost not moro than $32, SOC, 900. Even this
figure Mr.. Parsons shaded down by q fortune,
for he said that in making 1t up he had included
the cost Of putting in pipe galleries along the
sides OF the tunnel up Centre and new Elm
streets to Lafayette place and putting new
pipes in the galleries, and besides this he had
included the cost OF facing the entire tunnel
with fancy porcelain-covered brick and of much
brickwork which he had since found could be
replaced by concrete.
to put an, up , snEi pipe oi "a fSli t : S at their Iipi Ewn e nTi
n neeSu only ' be u aadns at e zach h"s side HsV Of stations alto sand and
the rest Of the tunnel could be lined with cement
used in the new Boston subway, and It is salts.
factory. The saving thus affected would be
B.. 532 600, and with its share of interest during
Mr.. Parsons testified to having had borings
Elm street. Fourth, and Lexington avenue
route, and where this route would tunnel UNI
Ioil was all such as would make easy the work
bf constructing the proposed tunnel.
laid .ns sFro u Eve f%elf sshn to twentieth ~ street. there
Is rock. from Twentieth to Thirty-third street
s sna 9 sal'ig G n t ssn spn nnd w ci"g. s so Ra ,heEa IN IS s0 no
rock up Lenox avenue until we near the Harlem
River. Under the Harlem the tunnel would be
In clay mixed with fine sand, with rock near the
edge Of the river. All the materials are easy to
This virtually ended Mr.. Parsons's direct tes-
timony and the direct testimony for the Rapid
Transit Railroad Commission.
MI. LaDrlSKl6 began MS hLtdCk upon MI. far-
sons in cross-examination by inquiring about
the proposed grades OF the road. Mr.. Parsons
Carried ESs srad BY S @en Z aep STsr s snd r Sye sp ssai Ws sess
be done by the Rapid Transit Railroad Commits
sion after it got permission to build the road.
The significance OF all this lay in the fact that a
large part of the cost of building such a road as
amount Of the excavation depends upon the
grades. At the former hearings upon the Broad,
grades were inpracticable, and that to build a
road that could be operated would involve grades
that would double his estimates Of the cost OF
After letting Mr.. Parsons make. It perfectly
clear that his grades must depend upon some
point with these questions:
Then. until you get your stations located. we
shall not be able to Is ascertain what the grades OF
No, except that I have made studies for
t tSinf Z ca al a q m9% Sor tSa fr at no p Roent viii nn The !
Z e b sseslsrstsd il speed. nor more than =
lis i not fair. then. to infer that you cannot
estimate the amount Of excavation until your
Variation OF grade only affect tho amount
Of material TO DO excavated and reflled. The
90 much space and costs Just so much. The
paving over 1t costs the same in any case. and
t MSa, SSns5s s in si ne amount itS n earth a tfhh to e t Of srs sa1
e the cheapest part Of The work. and changes in
~ WOuiu u ohhi AohkO "a oba "
"Then do you mean to tell u.s." said Mr.. "a
briskie. that II some other engineer were e
locate the stations and fix the grades 1t would
not make any, material difference in the esti
Mr.. Parsons realized that he washard pressed
"oh, yesl" he replied. Great differences"
At this point Mr.. Zabriskie paused and asked
for an adjournment. He said that, contrary t
the course taken before, Mr.. Parsons had re
fused to supply him before the hearing with thu
were now in evidence for the first time h,
needed time to study them.
Mr.. B%oardman OF counsel for the Rapit
Transit Railroad Commission did not oppose hi
request. but asked for some stipulation from
Nj. Zabriskie that he would get through witt
Mr.. Parsons's crossexamination within a rea
sonable time and then go on with his own wit
nesses for the opponents of the scheme withou
long delay.
You were three weeks cross-eIamining Nj
Parsons before" he said.
Il will finish with him before the end of mex
week" Mr.. Zabriskie replied.
1t was then arranged that q recess should b
taken until Monday at 1890 p. NJ.
Bicycle Thieves CloEEins tho Courts.