The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-11
SUGGESTS LOWER RAILROAD GRADES
c. K. Armls Submits PrOpo- sition for Handling City's
 Viaduct Problem
ro the Editor of The Age-Hefald:

To the Editor of The Age-Herald: As the matter of eliminating our many
 grede crossings is one of the most im-
 portant subjects now confronting the city
 of Birmingham, I respectfully beg leave
 to enter few suggestions toward solving
 the difficult problem.
 | Birmingham is now cut in half by the
 main lines of several railroads which pass
 through the heart of the business dis
 trict and occupy many square feet of valuable property, Now. since the city
 Is enjoying a good healthy growth, and
 as the business of the North and South
 sides is increasing in bounds. some scheme
 looking far away into the future should
 be adopted toward taking care of this
 business and linking the two sides to-
 gether in one unbroken whole. J. H. Johnstons suggestion of having
 tho entire system of crossings studied
 carefully and comprehensive plan deal-
 ing with the subject in it's entirety drawn
 up, is certainly a good one. His plan to have a special commission appointed to study the matter should also be adopted. In regard to the Twentieth street cross ing, both MT. Johnston and H. F. Wilson, Jr, bring in some very convincing argu-
 ments in favor of a subway or under pass in preference to a viaduet To my mind
 however, it Is a question whether sab-
 way here is what the public really needs,
 and there is little use in spending large
 sum of money on something that will
 not give satisfaction in years to come.
 No matter how well constructed, an under
 pass is always an unpleasant thorough
 fare for pedestrians, and the long one
 4l.. ..I~@ Twentieth street will be particularly un-
 pleasant to have to walk through. On the other hand a viaduct will be ruination to great deal of very valuable property, and for that reason alone it should not be considered for moment on either Eighteenth, Twentieth or Twenty fourth streets. MT. Johnston presents as the natural fsolution of the problem that all of the railroad tracks be elevated. and to let the grade of the streets remain the same.
 This would probably be more economical way at present for the railroads, but will it be the cheapest in the long run? During the past 10 years I have given a great deal of thought toward a final solution of the problem and am now thoroughly convinced that the thing to do is to lower the railroad tracks about 24 feet below the present
 
 city below the surface.
 Take the Louisville and Nashville for instance. An open cut beginning somewhat north of the Gate City cross ing on Tenth avenue and terminating
 south of Fourteenth street could be made. This cut could be covered over
 at street crossings and several blocks each way from Twentieth street could also be arched over. Buildings could then be erected directly over the track S and the value of this reclaimed floor space alone would amount to several million dollars-nearly sufficient to pay for the excavation.
 Passengers on the Louisville and Nashville could then enter the depot at to the track they require and then down an incline or stairway to their trains.
 A basement could be built under the freight. houses and inclines for teams could be constructed wherever neces- sary.
 The smoke nuisance will be more or less of an obstacle to this plan arter
 large portion of the cut should be arched over, but the same scheme has been tried out in other cities and meets with success. so why not in Birming- ham?
 The most difficult feature of my plan, I believe, will be the taking care Of the tracks leading into the terminal
 station This knot. however, can be unraveled after a close study. The matter of taking care of the storm water. while rather expensive, Is only an engineering detail, and as MT. Wilson points out, it can easily be dealt with.
 By all means, however, let some defi- nite action be taken at the meeting on Rf-.. fz.. e.. T h. Is worse than criminal. Yours truly, G. K. ARMIES, Engineer. Birmingham, March 10, 1912. 1900 Empire building