Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-22
NO DECISION IS
REACHED IN THE
vIADUCT AFT A|R
City and Santa Fe Officials
Fail to Come to an Agree
ment; viii Meet Again
Before January Is

Repair the old viaduet and save
the citizens of Albuquerque thou
sands of dollars. The old Viaduc
can be repaired so as to meet ex
listing needs"
!. "Accede to the demands of tho
people OF Albuquerque, as ex
pressed when they voted for thf
bond issue. The old viaduct canno
be repaired and maintained so al
to meet with existing requirement.
Of the city,"
That was the gist of the meeting
yesterday afternoon at the city haii
between representatives OF the A
T. & S. f. railroad and representa-
tiyes of the City of Albuquerque
anent the proposed new Vladuct
After nearly three hours OF discus
sion it was agreed to hold another
meeting some time prior TO Janu
airy IS, 1928. 49,.
In the meantime, p. r. Robinson
fridge engineer of the A, I. d >. +
system is to meet with City Man
ager Calkins and City Engineer
KimbaI. The three will investi'
gate the condition of the present
yiaduct and the feasibility OF re
pairing it and report to the mex
meeting. The meeting between
Calkins, Kimball and Robinson hac
not been set last night but Santa
Fe officials assured the city rep
resentatives that Robinson will GER
tainly be able to arrange the meet
inc mt later than the second week
in January.
representatives Present
The City Of Albuquerque was
represented at the meeting by Com,
missioners Swope, Hughes, wen
and Tlngley and City Manager Cal
kins and City Engineer kimball
The A. Z. & s. f. was represented
by M. c.. Blanchard, chief engineer
Of the Santa Fe system; w. G
Reid, New Mexico solicitor; G. IL
Bristol, assistant general manager
and f. c. Iden, co-solicitor with
Mr.. Reid.
The heaviest stroke Of the meet
ing was dealt by Commissioners
Clyde Tingley. Tingley put this
question:
Captain Reid, would you be
willing for us to go ahead and
build this viaduct and then take
it to the courts and find out who
is the best man? That is, find out
whether the city has to pay for
the whole thing, or whether the
Santa Fe railroad pays FOR the
whole thing? Would you be Will
ing, Captain, to have Us go aheau
and do that? ! don't say that we
would, but would you be willing
The query was not answered
directly. Prior to the question the
commissioners and railroad men
had made every effort to WORK
from friendly basis and reach
an amicable agreement. There
was no change in this attitude
after the question, but immediate
ly following it both sides agreed
to defer further action until after
Robinson, Calkins and kimball can
hold their conference.
Reid Opens Discussion
Mr.. Reid opened the discussion
by suggesting that new flooring De
placed in the old viaduct, the tloor-
ing to be of heavy planks, treated
with creosote and with a two OF
three inch surface of concrete. he
said that this would offer q good
cushion, would do away with the
rafting of the present structure
and that it would be a criminal
waste to scrap the old structure.
He said that such repair as he
suggested could be done for 49,
600 or $4,000 and that 1t would
be the sensible thing to do as II
would cost about $375,0OO to con-
struct the proposed new viaducl,
according to Robinson.
Commissioner Hughes declared
that the public wants viaduct
which will relieve the traffic on
Central avenue. In order to ac-
complish this, he said, it will be
necessary to have vladuct wide
enough to accommodate the trat-
fic which will make use OF 1t In
case a satisfactory viaduct is built
Tingley added that the viaduct was
built 20 years ago, when it suf-
ficed. With the great increase in
the growth of the city, he said, 1t
does not suffice now and with the
growth increasing steadily 1t will
fail more and more to accommo-
date traffic.
Mr.. Reid responded that there
Is no argument you can Offer
against better schools, better paved
roads and better things in every
fhip Observation-Disclosures VOfI have the
money. He said It is not the part
Of the railroad to come in and Of
fer suggestion for the use of a
bridge which is unsafe. but that
Mr.. Robinson says the present via
duct will be all right with proper
repairs and will be as pleasant as
a concrete viaduct.
He asked II it would be advisa :
BILE to tear down the present via
duct and said the Santa Fe has no
desire to give the city anything II
does not want. But he questioned