The sun., 1903-09-19
V0NYDITCHLOWER BROADWAY
vDONALD PROTESTS HE NEVER
rHOUGHT OF SUCH A THING.
He'll DO Some Excsvating at Night. bot
VIII Plank the Roadway Over for Day
Traflc-The Contractor and Parsons
Not Dtsa greeing About Anything.

Tranc-The Contractor and Parsons
Not Disagreeing About Anything. |
Nor. things are settled over the, highballs
thap under the rose'--A PTo'sro OF '"e Country
When Contractor John B. Mcdonald
stamped out Of the meeting Of the Rapid
Transit Commission Thursday afternoon he
and Chief Engineer William Barclay Par
sons were clearly at logRerheads. Mr..
Mcdonald had told the Commissioners
that no work that amounted to a row OF
n,ns was being done on lower Broadway.
II would take ten years. he said. to do the
work under the restrictions imposed by
the chief engineer. Why not open up one
side OF the street block at time?
The Commissioners, the reporters and the
engineers all got the impression that Mr..
Mcdonald wanted to Use the open ditch
svstem limiting the operation thereof to
one block at a time. This gave an OPP
port,niy to Engineer Parsons to say:
The contractors suggestion for the
opening Of the street and the consequent
blocking OF traffic will never receive my
approval.
To this Mr.. Mcdonald retorted that the
contrac, or would not be responsible for the
delay which the engineers restrictions
would involve.
Chairman Orr suggested that the con-
tractor and the engineer might get together.
Mr.. Mcdonald seized his hat and departed.
Possibly the suggestion was taken up later.
At any rate the disagreement between
engineer and contractor disappeared yes
terday as il it had been piece Of stage
scenery and the scene shifters had pulled
The ropes. The friction of the day before
was az perfect as if it had been prearranged.
Mr.. McDonald's idea Of an open ditch
had been buried by noon yesterday. The
onlv idea he then retained was that En-
pineer Parsons wanted him TO leave the
surface Of the street Untouched III part.
Mr.. Parsons blandly insisted that he wasn't
insisting on that Mr.. Mcdonald dictated
this statement TO reporter:
Neither the Rapid Transit Subway
Construction Company nor myself stand for
an open ditch any more than Mr.. Par
sons does.
What think we have right to do under
our contract is to open one or both sides
of the street on lower Broadway and to work
during the night and plank 1t over In the
,lay time the same as that part OF the work
now being carried on in front OF st. Pauls
Church. There is no disposition on the
part of the contractor to make any pubic
inconvenience either in the street or on
the sidewalk. 70
there is no clash or difference, nor has there
ever been 1t is merely matter OF differ
ence of opinion in the Interpretation OF the
contract This road is being constructed
for use by 5000 900 of people in the greater
CITY of New York who desire this facility
for reaching their work and the sooner we
can open the road the better it will be for
all.
we have only two tracks on lower Broad.
way and this work cannot be compared
with Fourth avenue, or upper Broadway
where we have four tracks.
I'VE have the men, tools and materials
to commences operations If MIR. Parsons's
contention is correct we shall be obliged tc
10 to work under his plans. which we shal
do cheerfully as soon as the matter II
determined
When this statement was read to Chief
Engineer Parsons he said:
II don't believe Mr.. Mcdonald has now
or at any time had an idea Of an open ditch
for lower Broadway. There is no CLASH
between US. I simply contend that there
shall be no disturbance in lower broadway
such as We ned in fouF'h aNeuHe anu IL
Fort V. second street.
aIf Mr.. Mcdonald is under the impression
that | mean to insist that tie paving stone'
shall noe be Terucved from Broadway an'
that tie. subway must be burrowed from t~'
or three OPENINGS he is under misappre
hension He say- re wants 70 open ths stree
at night and keep it pianked over in the da.
time, | am satisfied ~ih that arrange
,neur. There is no interference with traffi
under the system now employed in front
ST. paul's. Mr. Mcdonald may remov
he pavement by night, excavate plac
large enough to make room 1or ms work
men by iav and have the street restore,
for nrnctical use by morning as it is in from
of St Paul's.
when pan OF the method Of operating
from the beginning at st. pauls was fle'
with me issued permit for opening IN
street As soon as the contractor tle
pIans for his operations from the othe
onnninps that he suggests | shall approx
them. il they are satisfactory as the mrs
one was and issue permits Tor the othe
openings. | consider the planking over c
Broadway leaves the street freely open I
traffic by day and that Is what insist on.
~You see there is really no dispute be
tween Mr.. Mcdonald and myself when tn
situation is understood
Mr.. Mcdonald said that this system
lower Broadway would take longer tina
Nh" open ditch system. The difficult
/. in handling he pipes and mains In lowe
Broadway there are telegraph cohdul,
on pnCn StlFf hI Ntlt NNi Wv ''N'7' w NV |''
-eIauhone conduits on each side. three ga
pipes on each side, two steam heat pipe
on each side. and large water main o
each side Besides this, the trolley cor
,luifs, which go five feet under the stree
surface have 10 be taken care OF. III
sever mains are not a large problem Their
as Broadway IL drained largely, from tt
side and rear streets. There is n sho
piece of sewer from Fulton to Dey stre'
nut down in 1s49 another little piece fro
Dcv to Maiden lane, one from i4lbert
street TO Maiden lane put down IN lS'
and a central sewer from Cedar to PHI
street laid in 1889 The only other sew'
in lower Broadway is a short one south I
Morris street which takes care OF the Wasi
ington Iif Blilding.
{. J Bates, he engineer employed t.
the lower Broadway business men TO pr
tect their interests in the matter OF slbwa
construct ion, made this statement yeste
dav:
The property owners will undoubted
object If the street is made partially lr
passahe during the day NV understand
ing is that shnt' similar TO thhi now
place above Fulton street Is to be sunk np
Pine street VI the chief engineer thong
tween the two platforms do not think the
would be any objection. although the WI,
sidewalks in front OF the two churches ma
IL more con venient to have the only ope
ngs at those points.
I understood in general way that stat
ments to the effect that material was
hand for all the work between Ann sire