Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-01
Vehicle Transportation Across
Hudson Discussed by Commits
sion in Board of Trade.
BRIDGE WOULD COST
AT LEAST S55,OOO,OOO
Both Tunneling and Bridging
Near, Experts Say-Both
Advantageous TO City.

The construction of a bridge over
or the tunneling under the Hudson
river for the transportation of We
hicles to New Jersey from Manhat-
tan was discussed at length at a
meeting held under the auspices of the
New Jersey Interstate Bridge and
Tunnel Commission last night in the
rooms of the Board of Trade, and it
was pointed out that Newark and its
immediate vicinity would be ma
terially benefited by either.
Both projects were gone into in
minute detail and w. II. Moves, of
Tenafiy, president of the commission,
said it was the opinion of the COM
missioners that the time is not far
distant when both a bridge and tun-
nels will have to be built. He also
read some figures concerning ratables
on real estate which would help pay
for the bridge, according to an esti-
mate made in 1908 by Judge Minturn.
Bridge would Aid Farmers.
1t was also pointed out that when
the bridging of the river was dis
cussed it was generally understood to
mean the spanning of the river from
upper Manhattan to point in Ber-
gen county, which would not be as
beneficial to Newark as q tunnel
with its terminus at the lower end of
the island, though a bridge terminal
ing in Bergen county would open up
great market for the farmers of
northern New Jersey.
Figures were introduced showing
that the total number of vehicles
crossing the river by the ferries was
1850 a day, and of these only 1000
went uptown in New York. The total
for a year of 300 days is 5,S9S, 900,
which number would be greatly in
creased with better facilities. 1t was
also shown that the New Jersey popu-
alton in lower Manhattan was 1,772,-
10, and the New York population g.
133, $40.
The bridge project was explained in
detail by Henry w. Hodge, of the
firm which built the Manhattan bridge
and other large structures, and the
tunnel scheme was described by j..
Vipond Davies, of the firm which
constructed the Pennsylvania tunnels
and the McAdoo tubes. Both are con-
sulting engineers to the commission,
and both supplemented their remarks
with stereopticon views.
Mr.. Davis, as the first speaker,
said that the paramount question was
how to best serve the largest number
of people Tunnels were the best
solution, he thought, because of the
fact that five or six pairs of tun-
nels could be constructed for the
cost of one bridge, and with such a
series of tunnels highways would be
distributed and be of greater service
than when concentrated, as they
would be in bridge. He said there
was nothing speculative about tun-
nels for highway purposes because
before trains were operated in the
Pennsylvania tunnels automobiles
had been driven through them.
Double-deck Tunnels.
Mr. Davis's suggestion was for
double-deck tunnels, one for west
bound and the other for eastbound
traffic, with slowly moving traffic on
one level and rapidly moving vehi-
cles on the other. He also suggested
SIndl1eT IuUtS, III Ni'A@h liz HBtNSS
beneath the roadway would be used
for ventilation.
Mr.. Hodge, in discussing a bridge
across the river, said that when such
a suggestion was made it always re-
ferred to a structure from upper
Manhattan to a point in Bergen ceun-
ty, and not downtown; because of
the necessary length of the APP
proaches a bridge was not feasible
for the lower part of the river. He
admitted that Newark would proba-
bly, be best served by the tunnels
downtown than by bridge uptown.
The towers of the bridge which had
been planned, Mr.. Hodge said, would
be as high as the Singer tower, or 612
feet, and the bridge itself would clear
the river % feet more than any bridge
over the East river He also SAID
that such a structure would cost be-
tween fifty and fifty-five million dol
lars.
Other speakers were President Au-
gustus V. Hamburg, of the Board OF
Trade; Abraham Rothschild, County
Engineer Owen, Siegfried Leschziner
and Harrison Van Duyne. Among the
commissioners present were De Witt
Van Buskirk, of Bayonne; George
Limouze of Weehawken. and John
]. OLeary, of Passaic.