The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-17
FundamentaIg of Grade sooaratlon

To the Editor of The Age -Herald
 After many years of discussion of the elim- ination Of grade crossings in Birmingham we seem to be approaching what may prove momentous decision in this matter by the city commission Doubtless the commissioners would be delighted to know just what the majority of the citizens would have them do at this time. This information would be very difficl&t to arrive at. The responsibility of deciding rests with the commissioners: the privilege of subsequent criticism is reserved by the people. It cannot, then, be amiss to state now and clearly some of the most sa- lient facts controlling this grade-crossing problem in the hope that whatever may be done, will be done with full knowledge of its significance for the future metropolis that Birmingham is destined to become. x.
 The following facts must be kept well in mind: F
 1. The railroads are at present on a down. grade westward. To depress them further means a sleeper grade and a harder pull east ward.
 2. First avenue east of Twentieth street is sufficiently elevated above the track level to lend itself quite well to the. spring of via duets.
 3. Twentieth street, Eighteenth street and First avenue west of Twentieth street are all l suited to viaducts. In fact, Eighteenth and Twentieth streets are so nearly alikesin topog- raphy as to be inseparably linked together in any intelligent plan mad must be treated alike. If one has viaduct the other must be solved in the same way, or not solved at all. It is vitally important to bear this in mind To put it differently, the future of Twentieth street is controlled by the treatment of Eigh- teenth street, and is further embarrassed by the fact that short or long viaduct at Twentieth street would likely be most vio- lently fought at this time on account of property damage, and this property damage would be proportionately greater as the city grows. This means that the only solution of Twentieth street calls for an underpass, and that if it, is left as it for the present and viaductis now built at Eighteenth, this Eighteenth street viaduct must later be torn down and an underpass constructed at both crossings, if Twentieth street is to be re- lieved.s
 These facts were long ago clearly under stood by the city engineers, Messrs. Kirkpat- rick, Kendrick and Hawkins, and they have all definitely agreed upon the plan of track elevation with viaducts east of Twentieth street and underpasses at Twentieth, Eigh- teenth and Fourteenth streets. In fact it is even now claimed that this plan was clearly understood and agreed to by all parties con cerned when the Twenty-first street yiaduct was built. It is certainly true, at least, that this viaduct was built higher than necessary if the tracks are never to be elevated.
 Birmingham is little peculiar in the lack of an absolutely true axial street either north and south or east and west. The nearest ap, proach to such axial highways are Twentieth Estreet and First avenue. This is possibly the explanation of the fact that the four cor ners at the intersection of these thorough fares constitute probably the most highly de veloped street intersectiop in the whole South And any makeshift solution of a part of tho grade-erossing problem that takes no cog nizance of this fact and makes no provision for solving Twentieth street nOW e h ~