The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-07
NEW YORK STREET TRAFFIC
From the Engineering News.

From the Engineering News.
 T. T appears that on Fifth avenue 5460
 vehicles day passed the Worth mon ument in 1885, and $500 passed over the granite pavement in 1885. and $500 passed over the granite pavement daily in 1Ss6 tween Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, an increase of about 120 per cent. In 1885 MT. Greene estimated the aver age weight per vehicle as .6S ton. In 1904, according to the weights which have been assumed to be correct, the average weight per vehicle was S2 ton, of .S9 ton on the former basis In 1885 91 per cent of the ve- hicles weighed less than one ton, while in 1904 79 per cent Ca much smaller num- ber) were of this character. The traffic on this street, therefore. while still composed largely of light vehicles. has increased to an enormous extent in eight years and the average weight per vehicle to very con- siderable extent. The tonnage per foot of width, on the Greene basis of weight. has increased from 94 to 251 or to PAT on the writer's basis. With the exception of First avenue at Twenty-slxth street Fifth avenue carries the heaviest traffic in the city of New York, although this traffic is composed of the largest percentage of light weight vehicles.
 On 1885 the traffic on Broadway near Pine street amounted to 2TS tons per foot of width. No enumeration was made at this point In 1904, but at the two points where the count was made between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, on as- phalt and between Franklin and Leonard streets, on granite block) the tonnage only reached 107.2 in the one case and 65.5 in the other. These figures are on the Greene , basis of calculation. which includes the car tracks in the width of the street. and which must be used for a comparison of 1885 and 1904 data.
 On the writer's basis of calculation the tonnage at these two points amounts to 169.S and s69. These figures are exceeded by those for First, Fifth and Eighth ave- nues and for Fourth street. It is quite sur prising, therefore, to find that the Broad way traffic is, not heavy one at the present time, as compared with that of several other streets in New Yrok, while it has very possibly decreased rather than increased since 1885.
 It is an interesting fact that the heav- fest traffic which has been counted in New York is on First avenue at Twenty sixth street, and that 1t is largely made up of vehicles of heavy class, averaging 2.1S tons in weight only 26 per cent being of less than one ton.
 It appears that the tonnage per foot on some streets in London was far greater even in 1875 than anything found in New York. reaching 4l2 on King William street street of the same width as Fifth avenue, where the vehicles average l.06 tons in weight and 16,4s4 in number. On the other hand no one street in Lon don was the average weight of the ve- hicles so great as that on First avenue. It must be remembered that in London there is an enormous number of omni- buses, which are not found on New York streets For instance. of the 10,776 ve- hicles passing along Piccadilly, 32 per cent are of this description and average two tons in weight, while only 56 per cent are cabs, averaging one-half ton each. Notwithstanding this. the traffic on Fifth avenue approaches in tonnage per foot that on Piccadil1y in 1873. Un- fortunately there are no, data available for the latter street at the present time. The traffic, no doubt has increased largely.
 The records show that the traffic in Paris in 1881 and 1882 was very much greater than that on the streets carrying the heaviest traffic in New York city at tho rraaapt time Iu fact m traffic has been counted on any street in any city in