New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-04
PRESENT TUNNEL NO HELP
THOSE LIVING on CROWDED UPPER
EAST SIDE COULD NOT USE IT
TARLETON.

The construction of East Side tunnel. as
has been forth in The Tribune, will bring a
welcome relief to those residents OF the eastern
part of the city who obliged to use the ele-
waited lines in Second and Third aves. At pres
| ert the crowds Of homegCers who throng the
! stairs Of the City Hall station at evening md
! the jam and crush at this point growing worse
! and worse as time goes or. In spite of a few
changes made by the Manhattan Railway Com
pany, the press continues so that it is a wonder
| in the mind of a stranger why these thousands
| of people continue to endure emi-suffocation
as well as semi-extnction in order to live the
East Side.
From personal observation it has been found
| that the crowds of men and women employed in
the wholesale district of the city who live on
the upper East Side are accustomed to board the
Third-ave elevated trains at the different sta
| tions in the Bowery. These trains are loaded
to standing capacity when they leave the CITY
Hall and South Ferry terminals. and yet by
some means these additional passengers are
crowded ABOARD so that the platforms, as well
Rs the aisles are packed soidy with men and
women and children by the time the trains reach
Fourteerith-st The cars of the surface lines
leading to the UPPER East Side, the Lexington
ave- Fourtl-sve. Third-aye. and Second-ave.
lines. are also packed and jammed with human
ity nightly
TUNNEL NO HELP AS PLANNED.
As the downtown line OF the tunnel is through
Elrn-st anu Fourth-aye. IL Will he of easy
access to the merclatile district and that part
of Broadway from ChaTl-fc-:'-st to Fourteenth
st, but with the openta3 of the tunnel as 1t Is
now planned nc benefit "ill come to those liv-
Ing on the upper Eas. Side, inasmuch the
subway trains ~iII only take them as far as
Forty second-st. The consequence is that they
Will Ee corllr..lied To use the elevated and sur
face lines, and continue to be subjected to the
same inconvenences and annoyances as now. or
move TO the West Side which Will be next to an
innpossiblity because of the higher rents pre-
vsiling there
The crush at the City Hall terminal has also
become menace 10 the health and safety or
the public because with the growth Of the
Borough OF Brooklyn there is ever increasing
number of persons in business in Manhattan
who a; the end OF the day take the elevated
trains for the Brooklyn Bridge. Thus IT hap
pens that the two tides of humanity, one
struggling to reach the upper part of Manhat-
tan and The Bronx and the other bound for
Brooklyn. strike each other at this terminal
Some relief was granted to the public when an
additional footway was built on the eastern
edge of the station for the exit of downtown
passengers who are brought in on trains on that
side of the terminal. but no means Of relief
has vet been found TO relieve the congestion
raused by the landing of passengers from trains
coming into the terminal on the western side
Here the distance between the platform of the
station and the adjacent structure Of the
.-Staats-Zeitung" Building is small that the
building of a footvay is impracticable.
TERMINAL BRANCH WOULD RELIEVE
CRUSH.
With an eastern branch to the rapid transit
tunnel the rush for uptown trains would be
substantially diminished, and it is the opinion
of those who have studied the subject that the
two tides Of travel would to great degree cease
to clash. by seeking different channels.
1t has been said that the opening of the Will
iamsburg Bridge will in some degree relieve
the crush on the Brooklyn Bridge. While this
may be true to a certain extent, the point is not
controverted that the population in the southern
part of Brooklyn, which is reached most directly
by the present bridge. is increasing at such "A
rate that the new bridge will not relieve to any
great degree the evening rush at the City Hall
station.
Another reason that the jam at the City Hall
terminal is increasing is that the construction
of tenement houses on the East Side is being
pushed with great vigor. The statistics at the
Buildings Department show that after the en-
actnent of the present Tenement House law the
building Of tenement houses the East Side
took a remarkable bound. because of the desire
of builders to file plans before the law went into
effect. On the East Side the houses are planned
TO accommodate three four families II
floor whereas the West Side the large apart
ment house is the prevailing type Builders
cav that if the average West Side apartment
house were reconstructed east of the park
tenement house such is characteristic of that
part of the city il 3uld hold from five TO seven
times the number of people.
Thus while the number of homes increases
far more rapidly the East Side than on the
West, and the population grows in an increasing
ra 10 the transportation facilities are improved
n,ucb more slowly The installation of electricity
or the iextngton-ave. Third-ave. and Second
ave lines has increased the carrying capacity of
these roads Cnly to meet with still greater
increase in the number of patrons.