The Washington times., 1919-03-30


IN ropolis of the Union with its $780,
/ '. 600 people utterly dependent for
food and daily travel upon the antiquated
and inadequate transportation facilities
now afforded, is soon to have a great meas
ure of transit relief in the construction Of
huge double-decked vehicular tube un-
der the Hudson River.
This greatest engineering project since
the Panama Canal-if not in the the his
tory of the world-will be begun when the
New York State Legislature passes a bill
now before that body authorizing the
building of such tunnel. below the waters
OF. the Hudson.
The proposed undertaking will link up
for vehicular and pedestrian traffic lower
New York city with the opposite New
Jersey shore, and the cost will be borne
equally by the respective States. For
number of years there has been sporadic
agitation for the construction Of some such
form of traffic relief either a bridge or
tunnel. but it was not until 1906 that any
permanent commission was appointed to
deal with the feasibility and practicability
of the plan.
Since that year special commissions rep
resenting New Jersey and New York have
been making experiments and investiga-
tions in close cooperation, involving the
consideration of both bridges and various
types of tunnels, all of which have termi-
rated in a joint recommendation for the
building of a vehicular tunnel. The bridge
project was rejected as being too costly,
being somewhere in the neighbOrhoOd OF
$50 OOO, 900 and requiring from six to ten
years to complete.
The pressing need for some new trans
portation medium across the Hudson was
brought home with almost vindictive sig
nifcance to the people of New York City
during the Winter Of 1918, when industries
we're shut down and untold hardships eX-
perienced in private homes due to a snort
age of coal the supply Of which depends
largely upon barge transfer from the rail-
road terminals on the New Jersey shore.
During the early months Of 1919 the peO-
ple of New York City and the nearby Jer-
sey towns have been subjected TO great
inconvenience in travelling and TO a seri-
Gus food shortage by the interruption OF
boat service between points on the Jersey
shore and New York. This was OccasiOned
by the strikes of the workers on river craft
plying in and about the harbOrs of the two
cities.
New YOrk's metropolitan population,
within a radius Of ten miles. is about
1000 900 people. In Brooklyn and Queens.
separated from Manhattan island by the
East River, there is a population of about
25OO OOO Manhattan and the Bronx, to
the north. houses another 100000. On
the New Jersey side. across the Hudson
River. another 100000 people live. Fur
nishing transportation facilities alone for
this community presents a serious problem,
but II is further complicated by the fact
that New York is one of the greatest ports
OF the world; in fact, the great gateway
into the United States.
There are some % 600 miles Of railroads,
in the aggregate, which have their termi-
pals on the Jersey side of the Hudson. On
the New York side of the same river there
are terminals representing an aggregate
OF IL 900 miles. In addition, seventy-seven
foreign steamship lines have docking facil-
tiles in this port, the ships coming from
an parts of the globe.