Evening star., 1925-06-14
Huge Cities Are Not Doomed, But Will Grow
Greater With Right Traffic Rules, Is Claim

ton. Big cities will get bigger only If
they provide for the free and easy
flow of traffic.
what made cities in the first
place?" DR.. Harriss asked, and then
proceeded to answer his own question
"Convenience. It was convenient for
people to get together in cities and do
business. When it becomes incon-
venient for them to stay in that city
they go some place else.
Convenience depends upon easy
access to other people and other parts
of the city. In other words, convent
ence depends upon traffic. That's why
I have always said that traffic condi-
tions can make or break city.
For instance, poor traffic condi-
ttons in downtown New York have
moved business uptown, and poor
traffic conditions will eventually trans
form the skyscrapers of lower Broad
way into warehouses. Even the Wool
worth Building will be abandoned for
Office use If it had not been for the
heavy investments of the banking in
terests in buildings around Wall
street, the Stock Exchange would
have been moved up around the Grand
Central terminal long ago. I think it
will move eventually"
What will be the reason for this
transfer" I asked, a little bewildered
by this prediction.
| Drain East River.
Traffic, or, in other words, the in
convenience of getting down to Wall
street. Most of the people who work
down there live uptown or in the
suburbs. They come in via the Grand
Central Station or from the north, and
it would be far more convenient for
them to have offices in the district
around the Grand Central. That will
be New York'S great business center
in the future. I predicted this long
ago, and if you have noticed how the
apartment houses are being replaced
| by office buildings north of Grand Cen
trail, you will realize that my predic-
| ton is already being fulfilled"
How will New York's streets han
| die the 25,000,0 900 population of the
| future?" 1 asked.
In reply DIR. Harriss pulled a large
| sketch map out of his desk and ex.
| planned to me an idea he had worked
out with the advice OF expert engi-
| neers for damming and draining the
Fast River. This would leave a grear
open cavity between Brooklyn and
Manhattan. which he planned to fill
with express subway lines. Over the
subways he planned great concrete
roof, on which four express and local
| boulevards would handle the automo-
bile and pedestrian traffic Of the new
| city.
| This main artery of traffic, with
| adequate cross streets, would give the
/ city quick and easy transportation and
supply the means for an expansion to
a population of 25,000,000
The most crowded streets of the
city will eventually be triple-decked
with subway below, slow-movine
| commercial traffic on The street Level
and express traffic above. l have long
| advocated this for Sixth avenue In
! such cases there would be two sets OF
store windows, one above and one he.
| low, so that merchants would double
| or triple their display space. The
chief handicap would be the fact tha;
some second stories are higher OF
lower than others. However, the big
| cities, especially those like Boston
| Philadelphia and Chicago, whose cen
| tral streets are rather narrow, will
probably adopt the triple-decked street
in the not far distant future"
| Copyright 1925O