Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-11
THE q STREET SUBWAY
METHOD OF LIGHTING WITHOUT
ARTIFICIAL AGENCY.
Report Made in Connection With the
Railway Terminal in
This City.

Messrs C. b. Hunt, engineer of highw vs.
and Charles Fernald. assistant engin -r
today submitted to Commissioner Bddic
their joint report relative 70 their trip ot
inspection for the purpose of noting con
struction methods and structures that
might be applicable to the work of recon
structing the railroad terminal in Wash
ington.
Col. Bidde states that he is pleased with
the results, of the trip of inspection. espe-
cially with the information they obtained
with regard to the lighting of the proposed
S50-foot subway in II street. without 1e-
sorting to electricity or other artificial iiiu-
minsIion. BY using thick glass skyligEts
in the roof of the subway. it Is benevcd
The tunnel wni De Suincientiy lsAtS1
in the daytime without using any other
means of illumination. This will be a saw
Ing to the Distrlct OF about $4O,OOJ year.
according to the opinion of Col. Biddle ne
Is also of the op Mon that there will be no
difficulty experienced with regard to the
matter Of properly ventilating the II street
subway and the lesser subways on X. Il
and NJ streets. These subways have no
dips in them, but gradual slope, when
will permit the air to pass through them
without difficulty.
Substance of Report.
In their report on their trip Messrs. Hunt
and Fernald state that they visited Phila-
deiphia, Trenton, New Brunswick, Eliza
beth, Jersey City and Newark, N. j.: New
York city, Boston and Albany and Troy,
N. Y.
Continuing, the report says:
Excepting n rare cases. where masonry
arches were used for the roofs of subwAys
the conditions indicated either poor con-
structlon or defective water-proofng. the
best sample of a solid floor iron roof was
seen at the Market street crossing of The
Pennsylvania railroad tracks, in Newark
The water-proohng method used at this
crossing is being copied in the latest bridges
along the line of this road, and il properly
executed should result in marked i'm
provement over the conditions observed
elsewhere. Full notes were made of the
details of this water-proofing.
No street subway could be found which
even Appropriated in length the proposed
II street subway in this city. but analogous
conditions were Appropriated in the work
of the New York and Boston subways, and
to a degree in the station subways under
the track platforms at Albany and Troy.
The use Of light colored, smOoth-faced
brick was observed to materially aid in the
proper reflection and diffsion Of light and
the best results seem to accompany the use
of glazed brick.
Objections to Glazed Brick.
The report says that the stated objection
to the of a glazed brick surface for
viaduct walls, In that they tend to accu-
mulate moisture from the atmosphere due
to occasional differences in the tempera-
ture. but it was noted that by the con-
struction of an air space back of the brick
lining by the use of a terra-cotta Turing
tile this defect was practically eliminated.
Devices for securing natural illumination
through the roof of subways."- the report
states. were confined to two different
types of yault-llgnt construction, eacn De-
ing supplied with bulls eye lights about two
Inches in diameter One style was carried
by cast iron framework and the other by
frame work of reinforced concrete.
The percentage of area of the roof of the
subways inspected. which consisted of the
vault-light construction was considerably
less than what 1t is confidently believed
may be secured in the case of the H street
subway and il is believed that some equally
good type of skylight can be placed in the
roof of this subway, which will eliminate
the necessity of artificially lighting this
tunnel at least during the daylight hours"
In regard to the noises due to traffic
through and over the street subways the
report states, that a solid trough. floor iron
bridge construction, such as is contemplated
generally in the work here, was noted to be
substantially desirable a masonary
arch. The paving of the roadway of street
subwayS with a smooth material was OBJ
served to reduce the noises due to street
traffic through the subways- The simple
pipeline type of railing for viaducts Is ia
vOred by Messrs. Hunt and Fernald. They
state also that they are convinced the sub
structed with side walls of very light-col-
Ored glazed brick, provided with air cham
bers. and make suggestions regarding other
features of the construction.