New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-23
MILES OF TRAFFIC
UPHELD BY POSTS
Wood Supports in General
Use in Building of
New Tubes.

At least five miles Of Manhattan's
thoroughfares, practically all Of them
running north and south. and subject
TO the heaviest traffic, are still under
mined by subway construction. The
wooden surface OF the roadway upon
which the street cars are operated and
motor and horse drawn vehicles are
driven is supported by honeycomb Of
wooden Orders similar to that in Sew
enth Avenue which collapsed yester-
day.
There are about fifteen miles Of new
subways in the Borough Of Manhattan
under course OF construction, some sec
tons being nearer completion than
others. The possibilities Of disaster
similar to that which occurred yester-
day morning being repeated at other
points in the new rapid transit sys-
TENS could not be even guessed at yes
terday by engineers and experts famil-
lar with the progress Of the subway
work Until the cause Of the accident
was determined, they declared, the
chances of its being repeated were
problemstical.
Being built in Manhattan at present
are the Broadway-Fourth Avenue sub
way and the Seventh Avenue-Lexing-
ton Avenue system. The latter extends
from the Battery along West Broad
way TO Varick Street and along Sew
enth Avenue to Forty-second Street.
There it swings east to Lexington Ave
nue. and proceeds north along that thor
oughfare to The Bronx.
A dozen contractors have been award
ed the construction OF different sec
tons of the route. A section may be
one or several blocks in length. The
Lexington Avenue end of the subway
is practically completed. On the Sew
enth Avenue section, however, there is
SIN a great deal of work to be done.
Probably half of its length is support
ed by timpers
On the Broadway line much of the
work in the downtown end of the city
is completed. Above Twenty-third
Street, however, the roadway is tim
ber-supported surface. In this section,
where the traffic is heavy at all hours
of the day, similar disaster would
the work in that immediate vicinity
Below the surface Of the street blasting
there are in several other places in the
theatre and hotel district.
Snoring Plans Differ.
The United States Realty and I'M
provement Company is the contrac-
tor in charge of the work where the
cave-in occurred in Seventh Avenue.
That firm has two adjoining sections in
the Seventh Avenue line extending
from Commerce Street to Thirtieth
Street. 1t also has the contract for
the section of the Broadway-Fourth
Avenue division between Twenty-sixth
and Thirty-eighth streets, which in
cludes the busy Brosdwsy-Sixth Ave-
ue-Thirty-fourth Street intersection
and Herald Square.
According to the Public Service
Commission there is no uniform sys-
tenn of snoring which contractors are
forced TO adopt. The design Of the
supporting fabric is left to the engi-
neers of the individual construction
companies, who perfect II to meet the
demands OF the streets through which
the excavation is being made. In up
per Lexington Avenue, where much of
the subway is tunnel bored through
rock, the snoring, which prevents loose
chunks OF stone from falling, is differ
ent from that at Seventh Avenue where
the supports crumpled, which is erect
ed with the idea OF supporting a street
surface subject to traffic.
The only specification made by the
Public Service Commission Is that all
timbers used in the snoring be IL by II
inches in breadth and thickness. re-
spectively.
A cross section OF the snoring work
of each contractor would present a
different appearance. In Seventh Ave-
nue., between Commerce and Thirtieth
streets, it is like that which gave way
yesterday. In the Broadway section