New Britain herald., 1927-04-23
R. R. UNDERPASS
 ONCE CONSIDERED
But New Britain Wouldn't Pay
 S20,000 for the Job

Decision of the city plan commis-
 sion to discontinue movement for
 extension of Monroe street through to Glen street, thereby creating a
 crosstown highway which would
 pass no railroad tracks at grade, re-
 calls 10 mind another similar inn
 provement contemplated more than
 40 years ago, but dropped.
 The plan referred to was a pro-
 posed extension of Center street
 through to Church street. In the light Of later day estimates of costs
 for public improvements, the s2o,- 1 900 which would have been re- 1 quired seems ridiculously small fgured-yet the city fathers of that day stroked their boards and de-
 termined town finances would not
 stand the strain and the work could not be done.
 $2O,00O Then $1 ,OOO, ,OOO Now Today with the changed contour
 of our highway and the uses of the ! properties it would traverse, the iob
 IS practically an impossibility, at
 least 1t would seem to be impracti- 1 cal, and the work would require an outlay of perhaps million dollars, l Shortly after the town became in
 corporated into city. farsighted
 citizens recognized the fact that
 Main street would in days to come 1 be an overcrowded artery Of travel
 and business and they forecast q
 brilliant future for sofne other street
 parallelins the main artery at a | point not too distant.
 1 Main street at that time had been l built up to certain extent. It waS 1 a reasonable presumption that prop erty owners would not consent to re- 1 moval of their buildings and sus- , pension Of their business activities
 for greet length of time Tho Main street railroad crossing was
 recognized as a menace to travel and
 block to continuous business dis tricts. Center street. on the other 1 hand, was not built up. The rail- ! road crossover could be eliminated by making an underpass with a
 
 | tersection of East Main street and
 continuing past Church street and 1 through the then unoccupied tracts 1 into South Main street. Traffic from Stanley quarter and from Kensing- ton to the south would be connect- cd without the track problem it was set forth.
 R. R. Would Pay Half A few public spirited citizens had the initiative to go directly to the 'Naw Haven" railroad for an audi encc and discussion of the plan. After considerable investigation and preparation of maps. protiles and
 the like, it was determined that the
 plan was a feasible. Engineers in the city employ and those Of the railroad then set to estimating. It , was agreed that s4OOOO would be needed to create the underpass. Some further discussion was produc- tive of an offer by the railroad to bear one half the expense with the city to pay the remainder The plan went to the common council. The delays in reaching a decision before that body resulted in a cool ing of the public deinand and even- tually the plan was dropped as too expensive and there was little, if at all any protest by the general public.
 It 1s now estimated that Monroe street can be extended for about
 5000. and in addition to the high way improvement to be created there would be some saving in the l installation Of water mains. It seems q trlhe premature to look upon Monroe street in it's southerly eX- tremity as a potential zone of traffic of business activity. yet Center street ,O years ago was regarded in the same light under conditions which ! Were not greatly different. Delayed public Improvements often prove costly. Unless it is absolutely un- wise to consider the extension there are many, hearkening back to the Center street incident. who believe further consideration would not be amiss.