The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-01

car has a greater distance to traverse,
and more traffic to dodge. in getting
half way across a wide street, than on
narrow street. The same argument.
Patten pointed out, removes the only.
possible objection to the zones-that
they might obstruct traffic.
On Each Corner.
Patten mentioned some facts in the
traffic history of several of the cor
ners on Kansas avenue in the discus
sion. Platforms should be placed on
each of the corners between Fifth
and Tenth, he believes.
The corner at Seventh street, which
is a narrow street, is the most con-
gested and dangerous in the city, and
there have been more accidents there
than at any other point.
More passengers are loaded and I'M
loaded in front of The State Journal
building at Eighth and Kansas ave-
nues than at any other point in the
city.
The presence of the Santa Fe gen.
eral offices and the Pelletier store at
Ninth and the avenue makes for a
great deal of traffic there.
The junction of the lines to the
south and the west at the corner of
TeEth and Kansas avenues, combined
with the fact that Tenth street is
| torists.'' makes some safety feature
advisable there.
Ninety Feet Long.
The platforms as they are in use in
most other cities, are about ninety
| feet long-long enough to permit of
| two street cars being loaded and I'M
| loaded at the same time. They are
| five feet wide at the center. tapered
to two and one-half feet at each end.
/ This taper makes a sloping surface for
! the reckless motorist to strike if he
must strike something, and will tend
to skid him off into the street again,
rather than to permit the car to climb
onto the safety platform among the
waiting passengers there.
About Eight Inches High.
The platforms are about eight inches
| high, as a rule. This is high enough
to give protection, and yet to make
it easy to step from the platform to
the car.
Platforms at the following points
would be advisable, according to a
sketch which Patten made while dis
cussing the case:
| On the west side of Kansas avenue,
north of Fifth avenue; on the north
side of Sixth avenue. east and west of
| Kansas avenue, and both north and
south of Sixth avenue on Kansas ave-
nue.; on Kansas avenue both north and
south of Seventh street; on the east
and west sides of Kansas avenue, south
OF Eighth avenue, where both north
and southbound cars stop on the same
side of the street in front of The
State Journal building; on the north
and south of Ninth street, on Kansas
avenue and on the west side OF Kansas
avenue, north of Tenth avenue.
Where Is Money Coming From?
The question of where the money
was to come from for the construction
or the platforms, was a delicate one
with both the city officials and the
railway officials.
Il don't think the railway company
should be required to pay anything
toward the construction of the plat
| FORMS said Patten. They would add
nothing to our revenue. Their result
would be purely and simply the pro-
lection of the passengers. The fact
that the cars could be loaded much
more rapidly would increase the serv-
ice TO the public The street railway
company will this year pay in taxes To
percentage of the taxes we pay would
be sufficient to build the platforms y
Leave 1t TO People.
Patten believes that if some system
of taking a ballot among the people
who use the street cars were put into
effect, the presence of a popular de-
mand for the construction of the safety
zones would very soon be evident
| Hutchinson. after the scheme had
been tried out, has constructed con-
Icrete platforms. and Wichita. it is said
Intends to make the platforms, which
have proved so successful there. OF
concrete next year.