The Washington times., 1919-03-30
of sand
Of Hudson Between NNwY and dJHseyCi

levels so as to provide separate roadWays
for traffic going in each direction. That is
to say, each roadway win be vide enough
to permit Of three lines Of vehicles going
in one direction, or a total Of six lines in
both directions. The traffic entering the
tubes will be classified as slOw-moVing.
such as horse drawn vehicles; medium. Is
motor trucks and buses. and fast, incIud-
fng pleasure automobiles. Each class viii
have to keep in the line designated for
that speed Of vehicles.
Each roadway will be % feet inches
wide, and on the upper level there will be
sufficient space on each side for Ventilat-
ing apparatus and pedestrian roadway.
The total underwater section Of the tube
win be about 135 miles, and it is eonser-
vatively estimated that it viii have daily
capacity Of approximately 100000 vehicles.
Statistics compiled from data Of 1917 show
that during that year 4,S0O vehicles crossed
over the ive ferry lines between New York
and New Jersey in the vicinity Of the pro-
posed tunnel every day.
Il has been generally agreed upon by all
experts consulted in the formulating Of the
scheme that the New York entrance and
outlet to the tunnel should Be located at
Canal street, the widest street in the down
town, crosstown section. The Jersey open
ing would be at Twelfth street. Jersey City.
question that was brought up in the
various discussions-the proposition Of
VentiIation-has been dismissed by Gen
eral Goethals and other experts as a mat.
ter easy Of adjustment The poisonous
content Of carbon monoxide and dioxide IN
exhaust gases was believed BY some 70
present a very serious difficulty In We
hicular tunnel Of any great length.
When the Public Service Corporation Of
New Jersey submitted its report Il was ac-
companied by a report on its expert
ments in tunnel ventilation, and in the
tests a typical section Of the tunnel was
used Ventflators were installed In these
tests, and it was found that when all doors
we're closed and the Ventilators open and
exhausting from the top Of the tunnel,
after the engines (there were eight cars In
the section) had been running light for
forty minutes the condition Of the atmos-
phere was almost normal During this par
ticular test eighteen persons remained In
the tunnel and experienced no unpleasant
sensations from breathing the air and no
subsequent distress: The contaminated air
analy sis in this case was:
= Per cent
Unsaturated hydro carbon. DOL
Carbon diOXide ............. 0.06
oxygen NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. .ZO.54
Carbon mOnOxide .............. O.075
While the proposed Hudson tunnel is
longer than any of similar nature here
tofore built it is pointed out that there are
a number of other tunnels which are
operated successfully for vehiculaF traffic
without any mechanical means Of ventila-
tion. Chief among these is the Blackwa1l
Tunnel under the Thames River in Lon
don. This is Ia miles long
In stating his objections to the prs-con-
structed section type of tunnel which
would be laid in a dredged trench at the
river bottom, General GOethals gives some
interesting facts about the character of the
IluuSOu DONtOAA al NAAO ACbAOA lAS
tunnel will be built.
He states in part:
The material through which the trench
must be dug is soft silt and mud. Some
idea of the fuidity of the material may be
had from the tests made by dropping a pole
48 feet long, weighing 55 pounds, of which
SIS feet was of wood ga inches in diameter,
1C feet of - inch diameter steel Under its
own weight it penetrated the material to
a depth of from % to 36 feet. The upper
strata in close proximity to the water is
in such a liquid state as to be set In mo-
ton by the passage of deep draught yes-
sells
1T is true that the material becomes
more compact at the greater depths, yet It
is equally true that water admitted to the
lower strata reduces these to the same con-
sistency of the upper strata, which wiz be
the case il they are reached during the
progress Of the dredging operations.
The sO-called Hudson River silt consists
of minute particles of trap, granite, sand
the result of erosion o fthe rock fOrma-
tiOns found along its banks. ID overlies
the rock as an unstable mass, affected
by tidal fluctuations and temperature
changes