Tensas gazette., 1914-02-06
City's Highways Would Reach to
San Francisco.
All Within 327 Square MllesAHow
Conditions Of Construction and Up
keep Have Changed With Con-
tinualIy Changing Of Traffie.

New York.-If the streets of New
York city were placed end to end.
they would make a thoroughfare near
ly so feet wide all the way to San
Francisco. The population Of the city
would form q constant line upon each
sidewalk of persons six feet apart;
and at the busiest portions of this
transcontinental highway during ten
hours of the day, 1,400 vehicles would
pass a given point every hour. Yet
prised within an area Of 327 square
miles. of which. accordingly. they con-
stitute one-twelfth. These are among
the facts assembled in an article by
Frederick F. Bachley in the National
Municipal Review.
In New York the borough president
has control of the streets In his bor-
ough. with power to appoint and dis
miss a commissioner of public works.
For local purposes, the city is divid-
ed also into rs districts. in each OF
which is a local board. composed of
the aldermen from the district and
the borough president. The board has
power to initiate proceedings to open.
close, widen, extend and pave the
streets in its district. No resolution Is
valid without the approval Of the bor-
ough president
There are 400 miles of streets In
Manhattan. and all of these are paved
with the exception of about IL miles
in the northern part, in the section
that is built up since the completion
of the subway. When the present ad.
ministration came into power four
years ago, complaints about the
streets were loud and numerous. par
ticularly with respect to the sheet as
phalt pavement Not only was the sur
face of these pavements In bad condi-
ton. but the foundations were defec-
tive. To make the matter as bad as
possible, there were more miles Of
this type of pavement in the borough
than any other. AS, consequently. 1t
formed the principal thoroughfares OF
Manhattan. the breaks. hollows and
uneven surfaces in 1t were painfully
apparent.
One reason for this unfortunate
state of things was the increase that
had taken place in the weight of the
average load since the pavements had
been laid. Another was the larger
number of motor cars and trucks. with
their tendency to slip. and so to SCOOP
out the pavement.
For some mysterious reason. which
the reader can conjecture as well al
any one, this inexcusable faulty meth
cd of construction was continued eyer
after the time when the new kind o.
vehicles and greater loads made SOUND
foundations essential. Thirty miles o.
pavement with poor foundations were
laid in 1903. and 1t was not until three
years later that the practice of lay
ing sound concrete foundations be
came general in the borough.
Because of this flimsy construction
and the age of the pavements, thu
cost Of upkeep had become. enormous
It soon appeared that the greater par
of the pavement in the borough woult
have to be renewed. Previous to 191,
about 100000 a year had been spen
in paving. In 1911 this amount wa
raised to $1.4OO.000, and in 1912 to 50,
100000. AS result, so miles of street,
were laid last year, making a total o
1870 miles in three years. or nearly ,
quarter Of the entire length Of th'
pavement in Manhattan. There is n,
economy in repairing streets after the.
get into bad condition. It Is better {,
repaye them. Pursuance of this polio,
reduced the number of square yard
Of roadway done in 1912 from the ATS
900 of 1911 to $4,000. And despit,
the steadily rising prices charged b.
the asphalt companies this work wa
4 done at an average cost Of 13 cents {
| anuoro ward 1uafaad Of tha ~ cent