Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-25
THE DOWNTOWN MOTOR JAM
NEEDS EXPERT ATTENTION
Street Traffic Since the Automobile Ar
rived Has Become a Problem as I'M
portant as That Of TroIIeys

| The definition of their duties as it is
written into the new charter has sweep
and grandeur, and even an odd sugges-
ton of romance. Your transit director
is supposed wisely to oversee and regu-
late "the transportation Of persons and
property over. under, upon; through and
across any streets. highways, avenues,
bridges, viaducts, rivers waters and pub
lie and private lands or partly under,
over, upon, through or across the same"
The authors of the charter say moth
! ing of the air or sky. That omission can
! be understood. But they seem to have
! forgotten, too, that the people VINO walk
and those who ride in automobiles are a
vaster number than those who, as riders
in trolleys, are under the care Of the
| department of transit.
Motor traffic and the street congestion
! that it has brought about represent a
transit problem quite as acute as that of
| old and new trolley lines. 1t has never
been systematically studied Some one
will have to face it before long. Motor
car manufacturers cannot meet the de-
mands being made upon them. Mr.. Ford
is said TO be preparing to turn swarms
of $3.50 automobiles out into a yearning
world. so there isn't much time left to
meet situation that is already almost
hopelessly complicated
The traffic squad is as competent as
any in the world. But its equipment is
old-fashioned and many Of the rules
which it is required to enforce are no
longer adequate to keep traffic moving
where it ought to move smoothly. In any
new scheme of regulation some method
will have to be found for the convenient
parking of motorcars in the downtown
sections. The number of people who use
automobiles as daily convenience or
necessity is so great that the city will
have to concern itself about them. That
is a matter for engineers to work out
Motorcar owners themselves will have
10 be better regulated. Somewhere
among the municipal statutes is a mu-
nicipal ordinance which provides fines
for those who drive automobiles which
polutc the atmosphere with smoke and
poisonous gas. 1t used to be enforced
when devilwagons were a novelty. In
later years it has been forgotten. That
on hot summer afternoon often seem
like the vestibule to an inferno.
The first detail that will naturally sug-
geSt itself to any one who tries to sim
plify and improve the street traffic sys-
tenn is that of motortrucks. Now, a
motortruck and its crew represent con-
siderable lot of money. 1t ought to be
kept rolling along if its owner isn't to be
out of pocket. But the time that motor
trucks lose in traffic jams on the central
streets seems to be regarded as a neces-
sary waste. Drivers still seem to believe
that the shortest line between two given
points represents the easiest and quick
est route through the city. AS matter
OF fact, they could travel over a detour,
avoid the business section and reach their
destinations more quickly than they
reach them now by competing with troll
leys, passenger vehicles and masses of !
pedestrians in the shopping centers.
In a better traffic system downtown
and uptown and cross streets now little |
used will be set aside for the use of |
motortrucks and rules will be made to |
reserve the central business streets for |
the use of passenger vehicles. Quicker !
trolley service would follow naturally. |
There would be less danger and less delay |
in all other traffic. The motor freight |
and wagon traffic would get about more |
conveniently than it does now.
Ultimately the traffic squad will have
to be enlarged. The cross streets in the |
central sections of the city will have to |
L. +aI IN,
in order to accommodate some of the |
north-and-south motor traffic that makes
Broad street almost impossible at some
hours of the day. Better paving on Arch
street and the removal of distractions
that have made that thoroughfare unin-
viting for years would relieve some of the
pressure about City Hall.
Motorcars came along rather suddenly.
In cities where streets are wide they have
so far brought no serious traffic prob
lens for drivers, business men or the
public generally. 1t is plain that if a
growing population and increasing
motorcars are not to put an intolerable
pressure on the central streets within a
year or two radical changes will have to
be made in the existing rules. Il
The transit department under the new
city administration ought to cooperate
with the Departments of Works and
Public Safety to at least suggest a gen
eral plan by which the currents of We
hicle traffic may be disentangled and re-
directed with view to less waste and
greater general comfort.
Routes for motor freight ought TO be
established just as street-car routes are
now established and drivers should be
required to follow the courses indicated
by the authorities. A Bureau of Traffic
in one Of the departments would be a
good thing and it may be in existence
before many years.
Wider streets would, of course, go far