The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-23
Matter of Durham Streets
Before Commission
UNDER THE LATE ACT
Carr Street TO be Extended and Tracks
Raised in Accordance With Re-
cent Legislation. Petition
Of City to Corporation
Commission.


Yesterday in the petition of the town
to the Corporation Commission to Sc
cure a hearing as to the value of the
rights of way of the railroads to be
used by the city in the extension Of
Carr street. and as to the cost of rails
ing the tracks for subway crossing
of said streets under the tracks and
to determine what portion thereof
should be paid by the city and what py
the railroad companies.
The petition, which is signed by
Messrs. Manning and Foushee, attor-
neys for the city, and verified by MI
j. f. Freeland, the mayor, is drawn
as the result of an act passed by the
Legislature permitting the extension
of Carr street and providing for the
raising of the tracks to the level neces-
sary to permit travel beenath them.
The bill was urged by many Durham
people end vigorously opposed by the
railroads before the legislative COM
mittees, but passed the General As
sembly practically without opposition.
The purpose of the act is to permit
travel from one side to the other of
the city without danger to life. Carr
street being designed largely in its
extension to afford a safe method of
passage by school children past the
Under the act of the Corporation
Commission was given the power to
hear evidence and to determine the
value of the rights of way to be con-
demned by the town for the purposes
of the extension of Carr street and
to apportion the cost of making the
necessary raise in the tracks between
the town and the railroads.
The Carr street extension as pro-
posed by the city is to be forty-eight
feet wide and is to proceed under the
tracks of the roads to Main street, the
tracks affected being the main line of
the North Carolina Railroad, the Nor-l
folk and Western track. leased by the
Southern, and certain yard tracks of
the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. as
we'll as the tracks recently laid along
Pettigrew street by the Southern Rail-
road.
The reference to the recent sensa-
tional laying of tracks by the South
ern road is as follows:
Seaboard Air Line Railway Com
pany; that the distances are marked
upon the said map and that the said
map shows the present location of the
said tracks, except some moonlight
tracks put down on Peabody street and
Pettigrew street on Sunday night,
March 18th, 1905.
The situation as to the streets and
the railroads is fully explained in sec
ton six of the petition, which reads:
6. That there is now and has been
since 1885 or 1885. tunnel under the
main line of the North Carolina Rall-
way Company and through its en-
bankment at the mouth of carr street,
and that the said tunnel was cut at
the request of the city of Durham by
the Richmond and Danville Railroad
Company in 1885 or 1885 for the con-
venience of travel from Car rstreet TO
the north side of said railroad en-
bankment into what was then known
and called Peabody street; that said
cut under said track through said em-
bankment is not wide enough to &C
commodate the increased travel OF a
growing city like Durham; that 1t Is
not of the width of Carr street; that
said under track crossing has Deen OF
great service to the people of the city
of Durham and vicinity until all travel
through it was interrupted on sun
day. March 10Th, 1905, by the hasty
laying of some railroad tracks on the
other side of same.
And the prayer of the petitioners is
as follows:
Wherefore your petitioner plays
that notice be issued to the North
Carolina Railroad Company. Southern
Railway Company, its lessee, Seaboard
Air Line Railway Company, and the
Norfolk and Western Railway Com
pany, to appear at such time, as carry
as possible before your honorable
commission and that you hear and
ascertain the value of said right OF
way so taken by the extension of Carr
street. fix and determine the distance
as surface of said street or the extern
sion of it to the railroad tracks over
head, and to require the raising OF
the tracks of the said railroads now
crossing said street or it's extension to
such an extent as your honorable COM
mission may deem wise and necessary
and to fix and determine what part
of the cost of making said crossing
under said tracks shall be paid by the
city of Durham and the railroads af-
fected by said crossing.
An Act to Amend the Charter of the
City of Durham.
The General Assembly of North Caro-
lima do enact:
Section 1. That the city of Durham
is hereby authorized and empowered
to extend Gregson street. Carr street
and Aston Avenue. public highways
lndcIN. the railroad tracks crossing
said streets or the extension of said
streets and to cross the right of way
of any railroad company owning the
same at said crossing or any extension
of said streets across said right of
way.
Section 2. 1t shall be unlawful for
any railroad company to lay track on
or across the aforesaid streets or their
extensions at the grade of the surface
of said streets or any of them and
any railroad company violating this
section, its officers, agents or EN-.
ployees shall be guilty of a INSIDE
meanOr and punished, upon conviction.
in the discretion of the court, provided
this section shall not take effect till
provision of section three has been de-
termined.
Section 8. The Corporation Com
mission of North Carolina is hereby
authorized and empowered to ascer-
tain upon notice and hearing the value
of said right of way so taken by said
street or any extension thereof across
the same and to fix and determine the