The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-19
WOULD BID FOR DEEP TUNNEL.
pF,ITY & CONSTRUCTION co.
pElDY FOR the JOB.
,,.,,,on, Wrong In Thinking That No
W.T. nnc would Bld for the Work Alder
mem 1 unanimously Against the Ditch
wr PARSONS Back. with Nothing 10 Say

unanimously Against the Ditch
~. p,rsons Back, with Nothing 10 Say
,,ier Engineer william Barclay Parsons
A., pond Transit Commission returned
.,,er,ay from his vacation couple OF
hoyora the Board OF Aldermen passed
t,,i,rs demanding a new method OF
.,.,c,i,n for an underground road in
Broaiway
,nont the time Engineer Parsons was
ling the Instructions OF the Rapid Tran
r,,,,,ission to make careful inquiry to
r.,o.,r y s~stem which would not bring
,.,ress TO property owners, Robert f.
n.,liog president of the United
s,,,os Realty and Construction Company,
..o,rcsd that if August Belmont did not
.,r, TO hid on a deep tunnel for Broadway,
,,v ,s mistaken in the idea that 10 one
also would bid for such contract, for Mr.
n.ul;,g's company would like to under
take the work
.Oor company is quite as we'll equipped
t- the Job as is Mr.. Belmont's," said Mr.,
n,uIinr. If wa should undertake it, We
,,ys engineers on our staff who would be
,,,s ~ avoid such serious disturbances
Giraffe as have occurred along the Boula
yard no matter how near to the surface or
loy deep the tunnel might run.
We should like chance to bid on tun-
No under Broadway.
Mr. bowling believes that trunk line in
Broadway from Forty second street down
to the Post Office, or to the Battery, should
he part of the city's transportation sys-
,am. It would furnish quick local transit
for street always crowded.
The United States Realty and Construc-
ton Company. of which Mr. Bowling is
MAO ole of the managers. has assets of
sooNOMO, of which s5,OOO,O00 are in
cash. 1t owns large interests in Broad
wav real estate. The George A. Fuller
company, which is controlled by the
United States company, and of which Mr.,
bowling IL a director, Is a large con-
s,rction and contracting company. with
an equipment for such work as John b.
Mcdonald ia now doing. 1t is said to own
the most extensive construction plant in
the world
It is Mr. Dowlings opinion that an un-
derground road for local Broadway traffic
would he profitable, II it had no connection
with the existing subway system.
Engineer Parsons WAS asked: would
YOU favor deep tunnel from Forty-second
stree, 10 the Battery an an addition TO the
Underground serviceE
He said IL do not wish to answer that
question at this time
is the construction of such a tunnel
feasible from an engineering viewpoint"
Il will not answer that question now
Mr. Parsons said he had never made any
statement as to how the branch between
Fort v-second street and Fourteenth street
should be constructed, what route should
be followed or that the system used on
lower Broadway might be employed there
" fact, there was no information to give
Hout the projected branch, for no plans
Nd been prepared.
IA Comptroller Crout Is abroad and other
Members of the Rapid Transit Commission
Sill be out Of town for month yet, Engineer
PARSONS will not report to the commissio r
on its resolution OF last Thursday until late
in september.
1t is now thirteen months since the Rapic
Transit Commission directed Engineer Par
sons 10 prepare plans for the spur from
Fort y-sccond street TO Fourteenth street
vet, by his admission yesterday, nothing
has been done to that end
When the bids for the Brooklyn con
nection were opened, on july 81, 1902 Mr.
Belmont offered 10 build the Broadway
spur. Forty-second street 10 Fourteenth
street for sum much below the estimated
cost With the spur included, his price
was 81 100, 900. Without the spur, his bic
on Contract was $1,000, 900, leaving the
price OF the spur 100000, to be built praG'
lcally as Mr.. Belmont pleased.
On the advice Of counsel the Rapid Transit
Commission did not act on the larger bid
fearing that complications might follow
"A Mr. Belmon's offer was to hold gooC
only until July !. 1903, it has now lapsed
When Mr. Belmont was asked if that bic
OF slO0OOO would hold good when the con
slruction of the spur might be authorized
he said. Il don't want to be understood
proposition when it comes up again, anc
The company will be guided by circum'
stances
while Engineer Parsons says that not
even the route for the spur had been decided
on, il is evident that he had in mind coming
down Broadway, for in letter to the COM
mission in February he said, speaking oil
the projected branch
From this line mt Broadway a subway
under Thirty second street to Seventh avenue
should BE- built 40 as to bring the new Penn
sNivanm terminus to a connection with the
subway and elevated railway for the pur-
pose OF local distribution Of passen gers.
Of course, if the subway were to go down
seventh avenue there would be no occasion
for branch such az he then suggested.
Al that time Engineer Parsons favored
HE general plan Of carrying the road down
town, for he pointed out that the branch
would only transfer the point of congestio
from Forty-second street to Fourteenth
and proposed that the line be extended
10 the lower end of Manhattan Island at
South Ferry, following University place
Wooster and Church streets, and thus
furnish two additional tracks south of
the Post Office
Friends Of Engineer Parsons say it is
Unfair 10 him To infer from his supposed
attitude that he does not know how TO
""n "tcp llnheIS, anu tnaI lle language
OF the Rapid Transit COMMISSIONS resolu-
non was unfortunate, as it suggest ed that
he seek Information with which his ex-
periencc had already provided him.
oNe fourth OF the present subway sys-
ZEN, they say, has been tunnel work. Then
Nhy shouldn't Engineer Parsons report
70 the commission that he knows way
Of boring tunnel down Broadway, leaving
me street surface undisturbed and the
sidewalks unmarked with dust fumes?
N the Fort Washington division Of the
underground system there il a tunnel Sec
'Ion two miles long, which is the largest