Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-06-27
Three-Story Streets
Hy Frederic ]. usssin

Washington. Junc "a Given TO-
0O0, 900 automobiles, isnd he prospect OF
M increase Il 5pp. .rN0 each vear; make
allowances for ihc steady s1rt with of popu-
latious and tho fast that the increases in
10th autos and people n largely To swell
the city crvwds; question: how to nj
th,in comfortably into eity @tnwts nl-
ready senrcstcd. This is the knotty
pr,bltrn which traffic experts and cngl-
neers are facing
New York has recently mado rcvoltl-
tlonarv change by turning broadway
into q cnc-wnv street III the evening
when cars crowd into the streets That
contain 10 theatres, Chicago ia making
Michigan avenue double deck street
in part Of the downtown section, And
the critical situations in these cities are
not so Significant as in some others.
We are always hearing Of congestcd
streets in New York and Chicago. But
when indianapolis has 10 make its ar-
terial thorouphfarts one-way streets,
carrying traffic only into town IA the
morning. and OILY outward at night
when underground parking spaces are
being urged for Washington, when a
tunnol for vehicles is planned for Pitts
burg: and when almost every city of any
siss kecpe It's down town traffic moelnr
~ rush hours only by one-way streets
and = regiment OF traffic officers, the
situation osn easily ylbe regarded ne coming
To An acute stage
Nearly all of our ritios were planned
or grnw M when horses we're the stane
dafd of traffic. There was no thought ot
arfanaina streets 40 that in some future
swift decade motors could speed one way
along one street and back along parallel
thoruughfap. Nor was there any enai-
necr prophet Ia plan against the time
when 10 feet would bc cut of each side
of street by long rows of parked cars
Even when the alitomobilc hove into
sight and all sorts of cxtfayagant pre-
dicticns we're made regarding its nsc
cities went on allowing monumental
liiica buildings 10 bo built close down
to narrow pavomCnts, So that Widening
business streets VI 4 city is now almost
impossibly expensive
Some cities are widnning streets hy
cutting down sidwAlk space. but this
* likely to cause sidewalk congestion
Danger II Wide Streets.
Az ttft aititE tN'EflhFs fAfN-S WIN NFIA
wide streets are having their diilicultps
too. Washington attributes large
share OF It's accidents to the bruad ave-
nues where pedestrians have 81 great a
distance to c,lvrr IN crossing the street.
and So many rows 81 cars pass az time.
AZ one danger zone, Thomas Circle. the
city Is even considering a widening OF the
cicn,le 40 as TO narrow the roadway
arouad Il. A number Of accidents have
occurred there.
The model suggested for city street
system Is a rectangular chcrkerboard II
streets of moderate width IN the center
for business district. and streets radiat-
ing ont from that IN all directions. l3ut
plans To change existing contours, even
those nvulving slight changes. arp dini-
cult tc put into execution For the most
part cities will have to stay Just as they
grVw. with streets narrow or wide. too
straight or too crooked
The problem Of how 10 &c moro peotrle
and vehicles into gwen space will
probably have 10 he solved eventually
hy using subway snd elevated pa~savrs
for them, Just as they arr now uaed fnr
Stnct cars This j. an old proposal Ii
WAS suggested for New nfk as far back
as the SIXTIES and It's possibilities have
been explained any number 81 times since
hy inventive engineers New York Il IL
last about to try ont tho experiment.
A vehicrlar tunnel, long discussed. i
soon to TIC built under tho Hudson river
to relieve ferry congestion, and plan