The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-03

New York's Crowded Highways Compared
with Those Of London and Paris.

From Engineering News.
ISappears that on Fifth avenue s. $50 vah lola.
aday passed the Worth monument in 1855. ana
s.OOOpasaed over the granite pavement daily IN
1900. whereas In 1904 l2,Oss were observed be
tween ThIrty-third and Thirty-fourth streets
an increase Of about 100 per cent In iss;
Mr.. Greene estimated the average weight per
vehicle as 90 ton. In 1904. according 10 Inc
weights which have been asslncd 10 be- correct.
the average weight per vehicls was 80 ton. on
50 ton on the former basis. In 1855 0l per cent
OF the vehicles weighed lsNs than one ton. willis
In 1904 70 per cent. IA much smaller number,
were Of this character The traflC on this
street, therefore. while still composed largely
Of light vehicles. has increased 70 an cnor.
nous extent In eight years and the average
weight per vehicle 70 a very considerable
extent. The tonnage per foot OF width, ON
the Greene basis Of weight. has increased
from o. 70 2Si. or 70 2l7 on the writers basis.
With the exception Of First avenue az
twenty sixth street Fifth avenue carries thu
heaviest tranic In the city OF New York. a.
though this rsfic is composed Of the largest
percentage Of light weight vehicles.
In 1885 the traffc on Broadway near
Pine street amounted TO 27S tons per foot Of
width. No enumeration was made at this
POINT IN 1904, bus at the two points where the
count was made between Eighteenth and
nineteenth streets. on asphalt. and between
Franklin and Leonard streets, on granite
block the tonnage only reached l07 IN tho
one case and as. 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 COM
parison Of 1888 and 1904 data. On the Writer'S
basis Of calculation the tonnage at these two
poInt amounts 70 1908 and 06.0 These
figures are exceeded by those for First, Fifth
and Eighth avenues and for Fourth street.
II il quite surprising, therefore, To find that
the Broadway trafHc In not a heavy one. NJ
the present time. as COMPARED with that OF
several other streets in New York. while II
has very possibly decreased rather than in
1t IL an interesting fact that the heaviest
trafio which has been counted In New FORK
and that it is largely made up Of vehicles of a
heavy class, averaging .2,ls tons IN weight,
only % per cent being Of less than one ton
some streets in London was far greater even
In 1879 than ANYTHING found in New York,
reachinR 4l2 on KinR William street, n street
Of the same width as Fifth avenue, whore the
vehicles average LOG tons in weight and
e,as4 In number. On the other hand, on no
street in London was the average weight ~
the vehicles 40 great as that on First avenue.
II must be remembered that In London there
IL an enormous number 81 omnlbuses' which
stance. of the 0.77s vehicles passing along
Piccadilly 80 per cent. are Of this description
and average TWO IONS III Meight, Nhile only
So per cent. are cabs, averaging One-half ton
each. Notwithstanding this. the trHfic on
fifth avenue approaches in tonnage per foot
there are no data available for the latter
street at the present time. The trafic, no
doubt. has increased largely.
The records show that the traftic in Paris
in 1881 and 1882 was very much greater than
that on the streets carrying the heaviest
tran1c in New York city at the present time.
In fact, no trufic has been counted on any
street in any city in the world which can
equal that Of the Rue de RivOli in Paris in
1851, which at that time was nearly three
the width Of the two streets being practically
the same.