The New York herald., 1922-01-22
ARCHITECT PROPOSES DOUBLE DECK SIDEWALK FOR 5TII
Plan Devised by Harry Allan Jacobs
for Relieving Traffic Congestion Is
Now Under Consideration by 5th
Avenue Association---Wou Add
About Twenty-Five Feet to
Width of Roadway

There are few better ways - which
TO acquire deep and intimate Knows-
edge of the traffic situation on Fifth
avenue than to try to cross that thor
oughfare at Forty-second street during
any one Of the so-called rush hours. or
in fact during any time Of the day. for
every hour is q rush hour In that par
ticular sector of the Avenue OF the
Allies. Your knowledge Of the aforesaid
problem will, Of course, be bit more
personal and perhaps more profane II
YOU have a margin of five minutes In
which ito catch a train at the Grand
Central Station and three OF those five
minutes slip by before the stream
of vehicles comes to a grudging halt and
the blue uniformed autocrat in the mid
die OF the street gives you the high sign
10 indicate that the way has been cleared
for t5o humble pedestrian.
But there are other ways In which,
and other corners on which, one may
get a comprehensive idea Of the condt
tions with which the Traffic Squad must
cope on the avenue. 1t Is written. fos
instance, that Obadiah Williams OF Tur-
ners Falls. Mass. visiting his cousin.
Timothy Williams. in this city. was
street outside the Waldorf. at just about
The hour when fashionable New York Is
turning out for its tea and muffins.
Obadiah gazed wonderingly at the swift
moving glacier of motor cars, and turn
ing to his cousin said: Gosh, Tim,
wonder what's lettin' out y
But something is constantly lettin'
out" on Fifth avenue and therein Is the
root Of the trouble. What with signai
towers and one thing and another the
system devised for handling the con-
slant parade of vehicles and pedestrians
is probably as near perfect as 1t can be
made. Physical conditions. experts gen
orally agree, make impossible any fur
ther Improvement in the situation. Un-
less both the roadway and the sidewalks
are widened or the avenue loses some OF
its popularity, It's ability to take care OF
its pedestrian and vehicular traffic
will probably never be any greater than
it is now.
Were 1t practical to set the show win
dows of the stores on the avenue back
ten or fifteen feet and shore up the
upper stories of the buildings with an
arcade the problem Of widening the
roadbed might be solved in the Euro
pean fashion. This system, experts say,
would be both costly and impractical.
Harry Allan Jacobs, an architect VINO
has designed many fine office buildings
and dwellings, In New York city, believes,
however, that he can accomplish the
anne purpose In a much simpler way.
tie proposes that the present sidewalk
lie whitfield down, the roadbed widened
:: nd an elevated pedestrians pathway be
l,uilt over the sidewalk on both sides
!, /. the street, with bridges spanning the
adbed at the corners. This elevated
walk would be on a level with the sec
ond story windows of the buildings and
ould be made a decidedly ornamental
djunct to the street. Mr.. Jacobs thinks.
Moreover. the architect declares. 1t
would enhance the rental value OF sec
cud and third stories in the buildings
...ong the way by opening them up for
a:ore possibilities.
Mr.. Jacobs has submitted his scheme
TO The Fifth Avenue Association and 1t
VIII be taken up for consideration at
the next meeting OF the directors of
that organization, which Is always ac-
tive in the Improvement OF conditions in
The Fifth avenue district. Mr.. Jacobs
believes that the first unit of this
double deck sidewalk should be put up
between Thirty-fourth and Fiftieth
streets. Gradually, he says. 1t might be
extended south to Twenty-thlrd street
and north to Fifty-seventh street.
The present roadway on Fifth
avenue." said Mr.. Jacobs yesterday IN
discussing his scheme. lis fifty-five feet