New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-08-24
URGE PORT CHESTER ROAD
VIII Make Br0nr Important Com
merciaI Centre, 1t Is Sad.
BIG SAVING OF TIME EXPECTED.


Considerable impatience is being expressed in the
Borough Of The Bronx the delay In the Board
of Aldermen in taking action on the application OF
the New-York and Port Chester Railroad to cross
the streets north of the Harlem. Last June the
North Side Board Of Trade urged immediate
action. but the is still in committee
The construction Of the New-York and Port
Chester Railroad it is declared by those Interested
will 90 relatively toward the development OF
The Bronx within the next ten years than almost
anything else which has been done for that Dor
ough in the last twenty years. This will be ap-
parent when Il is remembered that the line OF the
road. laid out, traverses that part OF the
Borough of The Bronx which is relatively mac
cessible. and the development of which is conse-
quenty absolutely at a standstill account OF Its
inaccessibilitN.
The line of the Port Chester road. from one
hundred and thirty second-st and Wiis-ave run
ming northwardly to One hUndred-and-seventy
enth-st. or Tremont-ave and thence northwardly
to the northern city line will pass through the
borough and connect centres Of population when
not in easy communication with one
another. While it is true that the territory from
Wnls-ave. the present southern terminal Of the
Port Chester road. for a considerable distance
north is supplied with surface trolley roads
should not be forgotten 1t Is held that street sur
face trolley roads essentially economic requl-
sites for relatively short haus account OF the
necessarily slow schedule at which they are COLL
PEELED to along streets.
From Northumberland seventy-seventh-st. north
wardly in The Bronx to the northern city Inc
there are practically transportation facilities on
the east side of the borough. which is the part
that will be traversed by the line of the New-York
and Port Chester Railroad. Those interested hold
that this railroad will not only establish centres
population the Borough Of The Bronx whlch
will then be a short distance from one another.
considered from the point of view Of time con-
suned on acco INT of the relatively high schedules
of the Port Chester road. but that all OF these
separate population and the entire borough WILL
be brought into easy and convenient reach OF the
large centres of population, such Mount Vernon.
New-Rocheue. Larchmont Mamaroneck, Rye and
Port Chester. and the populations between the
centres just named. which are in the eastern part
of WestchesteI County along the Long Island
Sound all Of which will be connected by the Port
Chester road
GREAT COMMERCIAL CENTRE"
It is easv to see. these persons contend that the
development which will follow in Weschester
County and The Bronx when the Port Chester
road is in operation will in short while make OF
the borough A great independent commercial
centre. on account of the fact that with the de-
velopment Of large manufactures and department
stores and other centres of activity in that borough
TIE population all about and Immediately adjoining
The Bronx will centre toward it, and Will 60 to II
for the purpose Of making purchases, trades and
other commercial and financial arrangements.
I'll the subdivisions which known as
dG amos So all o ter HF 6usness or Manhatsn
Island That condI ion has been gradually disap-
better evidence Of the tendency toward indepen-
dence of the 81 rounding centres of population
such a remarkable extent in the development and
Lead5g BUSINESS men contend that the Borough 81
Better n9 2e tbsn BrooR GT o b big
Independent 9 numerical centre of activity on &C
mense population OF Westchester County tmme-
diately adjoining it on the north, and containing
White PiaIns and the additional relatively large
n
Il viii be recalled that not many years ago the
portion Of Manhattan Island from Twenty-thlrd-st.
north consisted OF number Of GoaseGqtiye but
Elevated Railroad was the agency which merged
whoe The situation Of he Borough Of The BTonS
and the eastern part OF WestcheSter County. it is
that IS, there are number OF separate relatively
large, populations, each one Of them only short
declare that the construction OF the Port Chester
Westchester County and the eastern part of the
Borough Of The Bronx, and apparently to an even
Manhattan Elevated Railroad Company has done
ment Of Manhattan has been due to the necessity
for the workmen and other breadwinners living
within such distance from their employment that
they can go back and forth by means of the trans
portation systems without prohbitive loss OF time
AN INCREASE IN SCHEDULE TINE.
Until within the last year the schedule speed of
the Manhattan Elevated Railroad about eleven
miles an hour. 1t is about fourteen miles an
hour The express schedule of the NewYork and
Port Chester Railroad Company. as now deter
mined, is about thirty-six miles hour. The
express schedule Of the NeW-York Rapid Transit
Subway, determined, is about thirty miles
hour. The combination OF these two schedules
viii enable a passenger, it is said, to pass from
Port Chester, when Is about thlTty-One miles from
the ew-4oEk lily Han 10 that building by tne
use OF the NewI DIRK and Port Chester Railroad
and the rapid TRANSIT Subway system in about
hour This is about the time required to get
from the upper portions OF Harem to the lower end
o. -ian4attan Island over the existing Manhattan
Elevated road.
The foregoing comparison, leading business men
urge, must bring out forcbly the extent to which
the New York and Port Chester Railroad will de-
ye.op the eastern part OF The Bronx and West
chester County by enabling people whose occupa-
lions require them to be on Manhattan Island daily
10 live out in the suburbs, and pass and from
their homes to their places of business with rea-
lively small loss of time. The Port Chester road
these men contend will also place the contiguous
part OF the population OF the eastern portion of
WestChester County and the lower part of Con-
neCticut within easy and convenient reach Of the
rapidly developing Borough OF The Bronx and
tend to establish the borough an independent
commercial centre at a relatively early date
In addition to the advantages mentioned the
economic which The Bronx will receive from
the construction Of the Port Chester road by the
increase in realty and other values will be great
those interested say.
TO IMPROVE THE METHODS.