New-York tribune., 1920-03-28

porting data; and as these f,rura. / !. =.
been obtained after 4 most exhsrst;,sss asvs
study BY the Engineers Of the lScsvs Ccs,,'
MISSION, they must be acccnted =,
tnose who oppose them. until theu ~ ~
able to disprove them. ~1s
inere are always those, who whar
any great project is launched az. ara
Johnny on the spot with destr'c+;rss ,s
sriticlsm, very often without = fn,I
skanowiedge of the subject upon which
sney express themselves. it is safe
~ say 1nat mad the commission decided
upon the three-line tunnel MANY Of
the opinion that q two-iine ur tunrs, VI
was adequate. '1'iel
1t is easier to explain whv q ,arr.r
tunnel would be impracticable. bv ns;r :.
1ne ~, Manhattan Bridge for an examnIe
anere you have q wide roadway arS
ehose chauffeurs who have crossed -
IN motor vehicles know with wha+ ~ ~
1eeiang of relief they entered The
speeaway OF the bridge after the con-
ses1'on s OF city streets; how they set
a,ea PACK IN the car. took deep breath
hasr hau osciaed that the job of politing
even IN big city. But remamhar
your d'fiiculty in getting onto that
orlage. AS you came up to the bridge
aappToach . you were halted by the traf-
sc oi Canai Street, and there you waited
ior several minutes until the SIGNAL
was given and you were able to nro-
ceed. In the building of that bridge.
as well as the other East River bridge,
proper plazas were not provided to
a'iow an uninterrupted flow of traffic
80 ~ enler ~ the roadways of the bridges,
nao therefore, the spans that connect
Mn1r, W..
10 act to full capacity.
Cost Increase Shown
mot so with a tunnel however. for
there the cost is figured as REGARDS
1ss length and the square of its diane
tsr' te Every toot you add to the diane
ter OF the tunnel increases the cost
and If it were built to accommodate
enree lines of traffic the cost would be
In'eariy double that of the two-line tube
onllke the East River bridges. in the
case the tunnel the commissioners
nave made provision for ample plazas
ana approaches to allow an unintar-
rupted How Of traffic to enter the ner--
eais, also adequate space at the ex;t
Tor vehicles to clear and merpe ;n+o
;ne sne traffic of the city streets. So we'll
mas the work been done that the tun-
nel VIII at all times be able to act to
owing to the fact that so
many streets lead to its entrance and
oI pIaza that intersection of streets
ana consequent hating of traAc will
have no effect. "A'A
ror example, should north bound
sra1hc S on Varick or Hudson Street
C oe matted by intersecting traffic on
Oanal Or Watts Street the south hound
lratnc OF the same streets. or the east
ana am. west bound vehicles of Watts or
? Z, roome Street, can gain easy access to
Ine plaza. All this is planned for the
lwo-hne tube. and it is felt that in
sucn e manner the present congestion of
not be materially affected.
On the other hand. we will assume
lnae three-llne tube in the same loca-
.ion ION would act to caAecity, doubtful
Shlng; such tunnel can accommodate
hear4y double the amount of traffic of
q two-line tube. The traffic nrohlem
that would then present itself would
De SO tremendous that the CITY officials
would be absolutely unable to keep the
streets clear at any time, and the com
~ MISSION would be confronted with new
, 3ossacies PSI that the engineers would have
1l1Hculty In overcoming. 1t would ne
,essitate millions of dollars to buy up
property, to widen the plazas and the
streets in the vicinity of the tunnel on.
rance and exit.
There is absolutely no need to con-
struct a tube with three lines for traf-
&c when the approaches to that tunnel
cannot take care of vehicles for more |
man Two lines. 1t must be remembered |
hat unlike the bridge, where one can
pass free from tolls, the tunnel has a !
Toll charge, and the collection of the |
money and tickets takes additional |
'lme and increased plaza space
1T will be many years before the |
proposed twoline tube will be unable |
70 cope with the traffic, and when that
time comes. the present tunnel will |
have so we'll paid for itself that the
surplus earned can go toward and we'll
nigh build second series of tubes"