Evening star., 1927-12-04


of facts and statistics resultant upof
| the first weeks operation of Ne"
| Yorks Holland vehicular tunnel mas
been completed, and the net effect ol
| the survey is to indicate strongly
| that the tube Is a marvel or engineer
| ing perfection and that as ume goes
on it will teach an increasingly large
number of interesting and important
| traffic lessons.
| The tunnel in the first week OF Its
| oneration has more than Jusuned lne
claims and expectations for II, accord
| ing to writer in the New YORK
Times. The first week. he shows, an
swered the momentous question tha'
arose during the tunnels CONSTRUCTION
Would the $4,000 900 the tube cost
provide the expected traffic relief Tor
miles UP and down the river ana lof
miles inland?
Would the motoring public take to
the new utility. and if as heartily as
anticipated. how would the twin tubes
themselves behave under pressure?
Would the supplementary traffic
super-paths. or approaches. leading
to their doorsteps prove equal to the
daily loads?
Withstand Traffic Shock.
Laid down in Fifth avenue. each
tube would extend from Washington
Square to Thirty-fourth street-Would
the ventilation system eliminate the
deadly carbon monoXide gas dis
charged from the automobiles? Would
the safety factors prove ample? For
example, the tubes rise and tall IN
places one-eighth Of an inch with the
tides-would such a stress be satistac'
torily absorbed, as the engineers as
sured?
At the very outset the Holland tun.
mel withstood a traffic shock that II
probably will not have to sustain again
in long time. A drastic test, but a
good one. The opening day developed
what is called the greatest single traf'
fic rush ever seen along the Hudson
River. Exactly 51,74S public cars
streamed through the tubes during
the first "a hours to make the six
minute crossing from Broome street,
Manhattan. to Fourteenth street, Jer-
sey City. or going the other way, from
Twelfth street. Jersey City, to Canal
street, Manhattan.
Thereafter the number Of sight.
seerS" decreased and the tunnel traffic
was reduced to a volume large enough
to pay expenses and leave something
over to put in the bank. The esti-
mated maximum daily traffic" was
put at 1000 cars, but after the SEN
sational opening day the weekday
average dropped to around $4,000 cars.
However, traffic experts say this fall.
ing off really means nothing as an in
deX of the tunnels future. They pre-
dict it will prove only temporary. and
that there will be steady gains as mo-
torists discover the new travel route.
Moreover. many truckmen admit
they laid off" the tunnel for the first
few days until convinced that the
curiosity rush" had passed. They
then felt that they could begin to route
their fleets through the tubes without
their being slowed up by congestion
in the entrance plazas.
$4,000 Average Expected.
In commenting upon the first week.
day traffic average, the tunnel com
missioners say they had hoped to have
a daily average of at least $4,000 cars
from the outset. They are CORE
spopdingly disappointed in the $4,000
average, although the tunnel. accord
ing to their estimates, merely needs
a daily traffic of about 16,500 cars to
enable it to pay it's overhead expense
total $5.500,000 a year, or around
S11,232 a day. The 16,500 vehicles
figured on the basis of three cars to
two trucks. would give gross tolls oi
s11,550.
However, there is another obliga
ton. BY legislative enactment the
sum Of 81 .400, 900 a year must be allo
Gated to the port of New York author
ity out of New York States share OF
whatever may eventually accrue In
net earnings from the Holland tunnel
The port authority as yet has no reve
nue-earning properties of it's own, and
1t needs additional revenue to helr
finance the two Staten Island bridges
and the new Hudson River bridge thai
it is building.
In other words, the Holland TunneI
must furnish part of the money tc
construct the new suspension span
across the Hudson River from Fort
Washington to Fort Lee. It's OWL
earning power correspondingly af
fects the progress of that construc
ton.
Analysis OF Traffic.
1t seems generally agreed at the
administration building of the Hol
land Tunnel, at Canal and Varicl
streets, that no sound conclusions car
be drawn regarding tunnel traffic
| until after the first month. An analy
sis of the traffic at various hours
| shows:
IL midnight-4 a.m.-Pleasure cars.
ANS am.-Produce and milk
| trucks.