Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-15
BRIDGES AT NEW YORK
One Just Completed and Two
Under Construction.
ARCH OVER HE'LL GATE
Design Rejected by the Municipal
Art Commission.
MAY BE AGAIN CONSIDERED
Twelve Tunnels Under the North
and East Rivers Will Quadruple
Transportation Facilities.


Transportation Facilities.
RY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
NEW YORK CITY. May L.. 1908.
In addition to the $75.OO0.O0O to be in
vested in new subways the city Of New
York is expanding $4O.OOOnOo for new
bridges. and they are absolutely neces-
sary to handle the traffic between the
several boroughs on either side of the
rivers. In 1888. when the Brooklyn
bridge was first opened to the public, 1t
was estimated that it would furnish all
the crossings that would be necessary in
addition to the ferry boats for fifty years.
and the most extravagant estimates fixed
the maximum future traffic at 10000 peo-
Pile day. Four hundred thousand pas
sengers is now about the average. and
during the year 1907 more than 1DOOO.OO
of people made use of It, while the fer
ries have trebled in capacity and are al
ways crowded.
Thirty years ago. as told you in a re-
cent letter. the man who proposed tun-
nels under the rivers was considered
Today twelve tubes are either completed
or very near to completion under the
rivers that surround New York Twenty
five years ago electricity was unknown
as motive force. yet today practically
all the street railroads of the country
are operated by electricity. The first sue
cessful trolley road in the world was put
in operation in Richmond. Va. In Feb
ruary 1888 by Frank Julian Sprague of
Milford. Conn Since that date the urban
"a elevated.
in all the cities of the United States and
Europe has undergone a transfer
nation and ~ per cent of the cars are
| driven by electricity. Within the next
fic of New York city will also be handled
| by the same power. and by the 1st OF
January. 1910. 1t is entirely probable that
steam locomotives will be unknown with.
in considerable radius of the center of
| this city.
| Were 1t not for Mr.. Sprague's invention
and his enterprise the tunnels would be
| impracticable. and perhaps James Henry
| Greathead. distinguished English engi-
| neer. should share the credit with him
| because his "cylndrical shield made the
| boring of tunnels through the earth easy
| and economical. Without 1t the subways
of New York and the tubes under the
| Hudson and East rivers might never have
| been built.
| The Twelve Tunnels.
| It is estimated that 10000 commuters
leave and enter the city of New York
proper-that Is, the borough of Manhat-
/ tan-every day. and about 100000 travel
ers Manhattan Island Is covered with
buildings, almost every inch OF it. and the
city cannot grow any more. The expan-
| sion of New York requires additional ia
cilities for handling the residents of sub
urban towns. and these are being fur
/ nished by the trolleys that run through
the twelve tunnels that connect Manhat-
tan Island with Long Island and New
Jersey.
There are twin tunnels under East river
from the Battery to Brooklyn. owned by
| the city and controlled and operated by
| the marlborough company.
| There are twin tunnels under East river
at :;4th street being constructed and al
most completed by the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company.
| There are twin tunnels under East river
at 42d street known as the Belmont tun-
nels which will soon be open for opera
| ton.
! The PENNSYLVANIA Railroad Company
has just completed twin tunnels between
sd street and Sth avenue, New York
city. and Bergen, n. J.
| What are known the McAdoO tun-
! nels under the Hudson river from Ho-
! boken and Jersey City have already been
| written about.
All Of these are new and have either
| been opened within the last few weeks
| or are just approaching completion. And
| it is estimated that they will increase tine
| facilities of travel between Manhattan
| Island and the outside world 400 per cent.
| That is, they can transport back and
forth 3,OOO,O0, people every day as easny
| as the present facilities can take care OF
10000 passengers
Three New Bridges.
In addition to these tunnels the munic
ipality of New York has recently COM
pleted what is called the Williamsburg
bridge between Manhattan Island and
| Brooklyn about two miles and half
| above the old Brooklyn bridge. and two
| new bridges known as the Manhattan
| Suspension bridge. near I'D street. and
the Blackwell's Island at Goth street. are
now under construction. Both of them
| would be considered remarkable for any
other city than New York. and a few
years only ago they would have been
| counted among the wonders Of the world.
The Blackwell's Island bridge has steel
| and masonry approaches leading to
huge cantilever of five spans of varying
length. The New York approach. built
| of masonry and Steel is 1.O51 feet in
| length. About $50 feet in shore from the
of the first cantilever. The shore arm of
this cantilever is 40 feet in length. The
| center span over the westerly channel of
the river. to Brackwelrs Island is 1.1C2
|
across the island which measures H32
| feet between the towers. Beyond this is
a span 9S4 feet over the east channel of
East river. between Blackwell s Island
and Brooklyn. Then comes the shore
| span. which is 459 feet in length, and be-
yond it the Long Island approach of steel
and plate Orders. which is $3.50 feet IN
| length.
This makes the. total length of the
bridge. including the approaches. 7.4OS
| feet and the total length of the camille
vers 1927. Fifty-two thousand tons Of
steel are used in construction. There are
two floors. Upon one of them are to be
eight tracks and on the other a thirty six
| foot driveway for vehicles and sidewalks
| of thirteen feet width on either side. This
| bridge will be completed within the next
| twelve months.
Manhattan Suspension Bridge.
The Manhattan Suspension bridge which
| is being constructed across East river be-
tween the Brooklyn and williamsburg
bridges. will not be finished until the sum-
mer of 1911 1t will have a total length
| of 7,4OS feet main span of 1.47O feet,
side spans of 725 feet. and will be the
heaviest bridge of metal that was ever
built Although its span will be 14O feet
less than that of the big cantilevers of
| the bridge over the Firth of Forth in
| Scotland, it is designed to carry much
heavier burdens. and therefore it's cables
are larger and the superstructure Is much