The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-31
WALK UND ERCROUND
CRASH OF TRAFFIC. IN BIG CITIES
POINTS To- PROBABLE
RESULT
PLAN CONSIDERED SUPERIOR
Unless steps Are Taken to ProVide
for Pedestrians Safety, 1t VIII
Be Impossible to Travel
in Daytime.
Special to The Globe.


NEW YORK, March 30.-If there Is one
| important question upon which almost all
! persons are unanimous it is that some
! thing must be done to render Pedestrian
ism more safe in our crowded cities
The advent of the automobile was the
] last straw to fall upon the Overburdened
! cameIs back. The nerve-racking ex-
periences Of a person compelled to cross
| Broadway in New York city at almost
! any hour of the day have passed the
! stage when they can be tolerated and
| something will have to be speedily done
to meet a situation which grows and must
/ continue growing worse every hour Of our
| lives.
| One lodges reckless truck driver only
! to. meet the headlight of an electrical car
coming one way at a furious speed. and
| perhaps escapes that only to find a vehicle
| following it and another car rushing down
| on the opposite track. After all these
| opportunities for self-immolation have
| been avoided it is very possible that a
| string of bicyclists engaged in scorching
| will be encountered before the curb on
the opposite side of the street is reached.
When the footpassenger arrives painting
/ upon the pavement after running the
| gauntlet of all these dangers It may be
! to collide with a small girl or boy rid
! ing a toy bicycle at headIong speed or
! else a yOungster on roller skates at whose
approach all who do not want to go down
in a rough and tumble collision must
promptly dodge.
1t needed only the advent of the horse
less carriage and truck to make it prac-
! tically impossible for pedestrians to get
along in safety.
| The accident insurance companies are
| so well aware of this condition Of things
that they issue policies at merely nom
| inal rates to cover accidents occurring
ol1I1r x1rLo bo ,,,.,
killed when riding in public conveyances.
They fully understand the dangers in
| VOlVed in pedes trianism.
| Various schemes have been proposed to
| overcome the difficulty and patents on
ideas worthy of Bellamy have been APP
| piled for. The movable sidewalk has been
/ perhaps the most practical Of these 1t
/ would be an almost impossible arrange
ment in all but a few streets, and at the
! very point where needed, namely at the
! crossings, connection could not be made
/ The idea is that of a continually moving
platform going from one end Of this
street to the other and operated by a
! cable.
An American engineer has been at work
! for some time on an overhead trolley
! system arranged on the same basis as
| that of the cash cars in the retail stores
| His plan is to have light wicker or wood
| en- cars for one passenger only these to
| be owned by the company running the
! lines and hired by individuals at so much
per hour. They would be operated BY
! the passenger and pass along over the
sidewalk His scheme, he thinks. would
meet with prompt cooperation from own
! ers of stores and theaters as people would
| be able to get out in rainy weather to do
their shopping and secure amusement.
He assumes that the large stores would
furnish special landing places for the
! passengers on this aerial railway, but
! there would, Of course, be others fur
nished by the company at regular points
on the line Two of the cars at least
! could run abreast in each direction over
| an ordinary sidewalk.
The most practical solution, however,
\ seems to be the subs.dewalk arcade
which would not only relieve the traffic
4 upon the sidewalk proper, but would fur
nish avenues Of safety instead of the
/ isles Of safety proposed by the estab-
hshment of stepping stones" across the
busiest Of our thOroughfares.
The question Of widening Fifty-ninth
! street in New York city from river to
4 river called for by it's transformation into
a business street has brought the arcade
! question prominently to the surface and
4 at a recent meeting of property owners
/ interested in the future Of tnat thorough
/ fare the arcade idea was proposed in
preference to widening the street.
OF course the suggestion is not new,
! for the matter of that, is anything new?
! When, some years ago. it was proposed
| OF tunnel under Broadway, and build what
was termed an ARCADE railway there
were to have been sidewalks to the
arcade, and it was generally understood
| that the merchants whose business prop
| erty abutted on the street would put
/ show windows into their Easements and
! thus reap the fruit of a twO-story ad-
vertisement. The Arcade railway did not
materialize and the idea was relegated to
! oblivion for the time being, but in the
| opinion of many leading architects it
will furnish the only solution Of the pc
destrian traffic question in our big cities
The city of the future may, therefore,
| furnish the novel scene of endlesss lines
of trolley cars and trucks passing up and
| down the thoroughfares with no visible
| sign Of humabity unless upon carriag &c
| box or a car platform.