New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-27
TO BID ON SUBWAY
Contractors of Other Cities in on
S1O0,0O0.000 Improvement.
FURTHER DELAY NOT LIKELY
Remaining Points of Difference
To Be Settled at Conference
Held To day.

Engineers representing the Public Ser
vice Commission and the city's Board of
Estimate will probably thrash out this
morning the last few remaining points of
difference in regard 10 the form of con
tracts for the tri-borough subway system.
Yesterday they had reduced the points
in question from forty-four 10 four. and
none of those remaining is of such vital
importance that it is a all likely to cause
any delay
With the forms agreed on and bearing
the approval of both the commission and
the transit committee of the Board Of
Estimate. the necessary changes in the
contracts as prepared by the commission
will be completed and the advertising for
bids started. These advertisements for
bids, 1t is expected, will be placed some
day in the coming week.
Besides the local newspapers, the ad
vertisements will appear in several out-of-
town papers in cities where there are con-
struction firms large enough to be inter-
ested in and to handle such proposition,
and in technical journals.
Already from some of the largest con-
struction firms of Chicago Philadelphia
and other cities inquiries have been re-
ceived in regard to the contract forms by
the commission.
Small Contractors Eager.
Small contractors who could hope to
handle only small part of the big con-
struction scheme have appeared by the
score at the offices Of the commission in
the last few days. eager TO get in bids on
certain sections of the system covering
ground IN localities with which they are
well acquainted. in a constructive way by
reason of previous experience in excava-
ton.
On the so-called public construction
plan" the construction with the city's
money, these small contractors Will have
an equal opportunity with the large firms,
and, Judging from the bidding on certain
sections of the Brooklyn Fourth avenue
subway, they will not be backward in put
ting in bids.
The first section Of that work, which
was considered the section with the least
surface and subsurface obstruction, was
bid on by nine contractors, though in the
third section, which took in the locality
with the highest percentage of such OBJ
structions, there were only three bids.
The proposition which the city is soon
to open 10 bidders involves the con-
struction of about forty-four miles of
subway, of which the main trunk lines
will be four-track systems. with three
track snd two-traCk construction on the
remainder
Roughly estimated, its cost will be
around 500. coo. 900 for construction alone
and besides this the bidders on the private
construction plan will have TO work out
and make offers on their schedules for
equipment and operation.
If bids based on the public construction
plan be adjudged the best the city will
later have to take up the matters of equip
ment and operation. but if private con-
struction bids be considered best, the de-
tails of equipment and operation will be
settled at the same time with the construc-
ton contracts.
Unit System of Bidding.
The unit system of bidding IS one item
in the contracts as prepared that viii ap-
pear for the first time in subway construc-
ton bids, and by this item contractors
will have TO show the basis OF their bids
down TO the last detail
Such things as the bid on excavation per
cubic yard, the bid removal of earth per
cubic yard below mean high water and the
bid on removal above mean high water are
each listed separately as is each and every
detail OF the construction work that can be
so itemized.
With matters so fully itenized the bulk of
the work necessary in the preparation of
the contract forms for bidders naturally is
high. Twenty three tons of paper were
used on the contract drawings alone, and
five thousand books containing drawings
and specifications We're necessary. Half Of
that number Of books are TO be used by
those bidding on the private construction
plan, and the other half on the public con-
struction plan, and each section of the
thirty into which the whole system is di-
vided in the contract forms on each plan
Of construction has its drawings and speci-
ications complete and in sufficient num-
Der 70 take care Of as may bidders as may
appear.
a comparison with the present INTERIOR
oUg1 subway and with the Fourth avenue
subway In Brooklyn, now under construc-
ton, shows the size and cost of the new
triborough system to be ten times that Of
the Fourth avenue subway and almost
twice that of the present Interborough
subway.
Relative Cost Of Subways.
The Interhorough. aggregating roughly
ia enty-fve miles. cost approximately $50
on Goa. the Fourth avenue subway, Brook
yn four miles IN length. but consisting Of
sixteen miles Of track. will average about
8. Gnonno 2 mile of track. and the prospective
triborough system. - 2-1a miles in length
four-track, three-trsCk and two-track in
construction. will cost somewhere in the
neighborhood of 800 600 il is estimated
In spite of the magnitude Of the work
the Public Service Commission is enter
tanning no fears that there will not enough
bidders anxious 10 tackle ii, or parts of it
basing its belief on the scores of inquiries
from small contractors. added to the evil
dent interest of the large construction firms
who propose to build. equip and operate on
/ the indeterrinate lease proposal.
Under the latter scheme, which IS part
! OF the private capital construction plan
the title 70 the new subway system will be
vested in the city from the start, just as
| II would be under the construction with
! the city's money, and the city under the
terms OF the lease will have the right TO
! buy the completed system from the build
! ing and operating company at the end OF
/ ten Years by paying over the balance of
! the then unearned cost, plus interest on the
investment.
! If the successful bid is based on the prt-
vate construction plan, the builder will have
TO share equally with the city all excess
earnings over the expense of maintenance,
reasonable dividends and amortization
fund.