The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-04-26
LAFAYETTE'S ROADS.
Extensive Improvements
Have Greatly Changed
the Old Town.

The, railroad improvements now in pro-
gress on the Communipaw and New
York Bay shores and in Lafayette and
Greenville by the Central and Lehigh
Valley Railroads are becoming extensive.
Lafayette today is no more like the
Lafayette of ten years ago than day re-
sembles night. What mighty changes
the advance of civilization and the
growth of the commerce and freight of
this country have made are almost be-
yond description and Lafayette has felt
the great movement of progress The
enormous increase of freight traffic to
and from the East has necessitated the
extension of lines wherever the big
freight handling lines could manage it.
Today the Communipaw section of old
Lafayette stands completely transformed.
Old timers say they never dreamed of it.
Where a few years ago vast stretches
of vacant lands extended for miles along
the water front, today sees that section
one vast network of tracks. Trancks are
everywhere and freight yards can be
counted without number. All day and all
night the drilling of engines pushing cars
back and forth can be seen and heard.
One vast improvement, which may be
regarded as the largest undertaken in
that part of the railroad centre, is the
extension of the road of the Lehigh VAL
ley. The fight of that road to gain pos
session of the Communipaw avenue grade
is history. For years the road was tied
up by the city authorities and then the
courts. The final decree giving the road
the right of way was the connecting link.
This crossing was the binding tie which
now forms part of an uninterrupted route
to Buffalo.
This is the main line of the road and
wit rhn rtrsr, nj oil .aes
smaller yards. Before the road got the
grade crossing it was forced, at a big ex-
pense, to run its cars over the Central
road for some distance. Since then many
additional improvements have been COM
pleted on a line which now crosses the
Central road at the Point of Rocks, near
the Greenville line. A trestle has been
built from Communipaw avenue, across
the Claremont flats. and reaching to the
foot of Fulton avenue. This high Struc-
ture crosses the Central road and runs on
roadbed is reached. This was the only
way the Lehigh Valley could construct
a line over the Central tracks and no ex-
pense has been spared. to complete the
work in a most thorough manner.
The trestle is now being substantially
strengthened and converted into a per-
feet roadbed by the filling in of ashes and
dirt around the big wooden structure.
Thousands of tons Of dirt and ashes are
used in this work. 1t is necessary to
fill in to a level with the top of the
treStle. ALREADY ABOUT nalI OF the Hlung
in has been done. This will be COM
pleted in the course of a month or two.
Besides the new trestle, both roads have
constructed dozens of small lines for
freight purposes in that section. The yai-
ley road is building big freight yard in
Greenville and extending tracks far be-
yond Chapel avenue which has also been
trestled.
The Communipaw shore front is a line
of tracks and almost all of the lighthouses
have moved to unobstructed quarters
and pleasure houses re longed line the
snore. Old boatmen say that the business
there is practically dead. It is useless
now to put boats in commission, there
are no visitors there to use them as of
yore. The Pavonia Yacht Club has gonc
ments are likely to follow.