The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-01
BOSTON'S NEW TRANSIT TUBE.
FIRST TUNNEL OF THE KIND TO
CROSS AN OPEN HARBOR.
An Important Link in the Street Car sys-
TEN Of Which Boston Is Proud-How
the Rapid Transit Problem Has Deen
Solved at the Hub-SubWaNS OpDosed

boSION, DEC. 3l.-BoSton has Just opened
70 travel the first tunnel constructed by an
American city TO take the lines Of its street
car system under the water Of an open
haroor II connects the mainland OF the
old Shawmut Peninsula on which the
business part Of the Hub is built. with
Fast Boston, still known familiariy hv it's
colonial name, Noodle Island, and is a mile
and for-tenths long
Inc tube contains two tracks equipped
Tor the overhead trolley service employed
on tho surace lines OF the Boston Elevated
hallway, for at its suburban end the tunnel
cars run on the regular street tracks 1t
Is "a feet in width and % feet from floor to
roof and its walls and arch are constructed
entirely OF concrete. It Is the first tunnel
IN which that material alone is thus used.
Inc cost has been about 81. 900 900, s:id
II mas taken about four and half years
TO complete tho work.
In Boston the opening OF the tunnel to
travel is regarded as important mainly
because 1t Is step in the progress Of the
Ne" England metropolis toward the most
comprehensive system of rapid transit
mat any American city has. 1t marks
the completion Of another OF the great
arteries Of traffic which have been planned
TO take care of the expected growth Of
population and is part of the great general
,echeme of the Boston Elevated Railway
Company. which operates all the local
street car lines except a suburban line or
two from the north.
Bostonians like to believe. and they APP
rarently have reason for so believing that
this system makes it possible to travel
further and more comfortably for a nickel
in their city than Is possible anywhere else
in the world. As any New York visitor
knows, there are a good many things that
diferentiate the rapid transit SYSTEM in
New York very sharply from that hero.
To say nothing OF the general character
Of the service, probably the most important
difference Is that Boston has an essential
unity in the layout of its entire network
Of transportation lines. In spite of the
i7regularity Of the crooked streets and Y Q
vast collection Of unrelated suburbs that
have grown up in every direction, the
engineers OF the Boston elevated have
devised mathematical plan such as might
have been adopted in the case Of prairie
city laid out for the first time.
Tho scheme Of the street car lines IA, in
essence. somewhat similar to the arrange
ment Of streets which Major LEnfant
OF a circle surrounding the congcsted part
OF the city by means Of subway on one
eide and Of an elevated road on the other,
with outlets at both ends Of these roads
and from either side Of the traffic centre
Three Of these trunk lines between the
congested district and outlying distributing
points are now complete. the East Boston
tunnel being the latest to be opened Two
nf "a 4 bo
To Sullivan Square, Charlestown, and the
other TO Dudley street, Roxbury were built
as overhead roads and have been in opera
ton three years. The fourth ia the rapid
transit line TO Cambridge which is to be
underground in Boston and elevated on the
other side OF the Charles River. and is to be
constructed as soon as the completion OF the
new West Boston bridge, now nearly finished,
gives the company the l0gal right to ask for
location.
II may be said that the East Boston
tunnel is the only piece OF underground con-
Btnlction that has been built. or is likely
TO be built, outside Of the limits Of the con-
Re5ted district for it is the theory Of the
engineers that while short subways ARE
advantageous in the crowded retail and Office,
building district. long ones are undesirable
anywhere, being dangerous 10 public health.
For further accommodation or traffic
in the heart OF the city there is now build
ing a tunnel under Washington street, the
main artery Of Boston business that will
be given over wholly to the use Of elevat ed
trains, which, when it is ready, will be with
drawn from tho present fremont street
subway, the pioneer construction Of its
Kind in the United States, leaving that once
more for the sole use of surface lines, for
which it was originally built
AS direct feeders 10 the trunk lines that
tap the central circuit are the many surface
lines spreading in great network over
the whole OF eastern Massachusetts,. In
most instances they make direct conncc-
tion with the elevated-subway trains by
being brought into the same terminal sta
tions, 80 that the passenger makes what Is
called bodily transfer. That is, he walks
across platform from one car to another
without being under the necessity Of pre-
tenting any ticket or check.
The 6exibility Of this entire system and
the libernity Of the operating company
in the matter Of free transfers are no doubt
responsible for much Of tho good feeling
that exists on the part of the public toward
the elevated management. The content
ment OF Bosionians with their form Of
rapid trausi. IL also very largely due to
the fact that one company has the trans
poItation service OF the metropolitan dis
trct in its charge, except for one suburban
route.
The business Of street railroading in
Massachusetts has received such status
from legislative enactnents that it repre-
sents the best features alike Of private
ownership and State supervision The
Boston Elevated Railway Company. for
example. on the ono side. is protected
from meddlesome interference and political
raids, and on the other il under distinct obi
cation to the State Railroad Commission to
render good service.
In fact, the Massachusetts, theory IN
general as the Railroad Commissioners
have expressed it in their reports, Is that
competition in the great public utilities is
uneconomio and wasteful and that it h. best
slways 70 establish a monopoly. define its
privileges and duties very carefully. and
hold it responsible for producing satisfac-
tory results. II is the testimony OF prac-
IN.