Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-12-12
Pennsylvania Railroads Latest
Scheme for the Tunnel
Below North River
HUGE SUBMARINE BRIDGE.
Soft Bed Of Water Course Long an
Obstacle to Engineers--Prob.
lem Was Solved.
Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence.
New York, Dec. Bids for the con-
structlon Of the Pennsylvania rail-
roads tunnels under New York city
and the North and East rivers will be
opened on Dec TO- The officers OF the
company predict that. unless the work
is hlndered by protracted strikes or by
some unforeseen calamity, within four
years the island of Manhattan viii be
connected by rail with the Jersey
mainland. Then passengers from the
east, north, west and south Will be
able to enter New York without change
OF cars, while the now partially isolat-
ed New Workers. and Brookyntes will
not have to depend on ferryboats when
they wish to travel. A through service
TO New England points by means Of
the Long Island railroad and a new
bridge over Wards island, in the East
river, Is part OF the Pennsylvania plan,
and the frultion of Austin COrbn's
scheme TO make Montauk Point, at the
end OF Long Island, the great passen-
Der port of the Atlantic coast is among
the possibilities made by this big en-
gineerng project
The tunnel under the North river is
the only section of the new under
ground line which presents unusual
difficulties. Tunneling under Manhat-
tan and the East river the contractors
Will have no harder task than that pre-
scented by the New York city subway,
now near completion, but the soft bed
OF the North river has long baked the
worlds best engineers. This sole bed
IL sometimes $50 feet thick. To tunnel
In the bedrock under this would OBJ
viously make impossible grades. An
attempt was made many years ago to
tunnel through the silt without trying
10 reach the bedrock. a serious accident
apparently proved the impracticability
OF this attempt and II was abandoned
Lately II has been taken up again and
the tunnel Is nearly ready for public
inspection. II is TO be used only by
trolley cars, however. II could scarce
ly bear the heavy traffic OF railroad
trains, resting. as IL does, suspended In
the soft mud
The ingenious idea OF the Pennsylva-
MIA engineers Is to build bridge under
water. The tunnel proper viii be com
posed OF two tubes, laid on the river
bed. Every fifteen feet there will be
pier, reaching the bedrock and
supporting the tubular tunnel, just as
piers OF stone support a bridge over
stream, Hollow screw piles will be
sunk from caissons, and the upper part
Of the piles will be filled with cement
level with the floor of the tunnel In
this way all danger OF the collapse or
buckling of The tube will be eliminated.
The internal arrangements OF the
tunnel have been carefully worked out
and elaborate precautions for the safe
~ OF passengers and employees have
been taken. A shelf four feet wide
Will run the whole length OF each tube,
affording means of easy and immedi-
ate egress should an accident occur.
Beneath this shelf Mt intervals of few
feet are to be refuge inches for the
employees. Each tunnel being single
tracked, train passing through II will
act as a piston, forcing out the bad
air. But other means of ventilation
VIII, of course, be provided. External
and internal drainage are to be looked
after In the most generous manner.
Plans for the new station at Eighth
avenue and Thirty-1rst street, where
the North and East river tunnels win
meet, have been drawn but have not
yet been approved The station will
cost s10.000,O00 will cover four city
blocks and will BE- the largest railway
terminal In the world
II will have two stories underground,
the lower for tracks and the upper for
waiting rooms and ticket offices. sur
mounted by five or six stories above
ground Part OF this structure will
probably be used as hotel. The main
entrance will be In Eighth avenue,
From here an inclined carriage way
and stairs and elevators for pedestrians
Will lead down to the tracks. OF these
there viii be twenty-five In all, total
length OF five and half miles. To
every platform there will be separate
approach so that passengers may reach
their trains without difficulty or confu-
sion.
The tunnel will lie about ninety feet
beneath the level of the North river
but will come TO within forty feet OF
the surface at the station.