New Britain herald., 1928-09-29
Agrees to Keep Watchmen on Duty "A Hours . Day at Other Streets for Emergencies.

Emergencies.
 The entire program of paving thu Main street railway crossing wa, threatened with disruption yester' day afternoon at a conference ol city officials when Chief William J Noble of the fire department said he not only would refuse to approve the blocking Of Main street traffic for week or more. as agreed upon by others involved, but that the fire department would not approve Of blocking the crossing for eve1 an hour. The situation, created by Chief Noble's stand was averted only when Mayor Paonessa assumed the responsibility for the city. thua satisfying Chief Noble's objection.
 The argument ensued after H. J, Tippits. engineer for the Connecticut Co.,. explained that the work would necessitate the tying up of all traffic over that crossing for at least five days and possibly eight or nine.
 Th matter was discussed in the offices of the board of public works. In addition to Mr. Tippits there present Mayor A. M. Paonessa. Chairman George R. Dobson of the board of public works, City Engi- neer F. 4. Merriam, Chief Noble. Michael A. Hannan. chairman of the board of police commissioners; Ser geant John King of the traffic squad; George Johnson. clerk of the board of public works: R. J. Beth. division engineer of the New York. New Haven and Hartford railroad company: J. H. Smithwick. track supervisor of the roalroad company: J. H. Doer general track foreman for the Connecticut company: Will liam J. Bryan. superintendent of the New Britain division of the C.. necticut Co.,, and W. II. Casey. as- slstant superintendent Of the New York. New Haven and Hartford rail- road company.
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 The meeting was informal. Mir. Tippits opened the discussion by stating that the meeting was called for the purpose of ascertaining what was needed in the way of traffic control.
 He said the company expects to start work on paving the crossing at II o'clock on the night of Octo- ber 6. He said the excavation work would necessitate the closing Of the center and one side of the street on the night of the 9th. which will be Saturday, all day Sunday and Sun- day night, and the closing of the entire street to traffic beginning Monday morning.
 For at least three days the exca- vation will continue. During this time men will endeavor to keep the tracks safe for trains.
 For two nights during the week the Connecticut company will trans- fer passengers at the crossing. Dur ing the entire period of eight or nine days the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad company will use only one track. running trains against traffic all this time.
 MT. Tippits explained that the construction job involves a base of eight inches of concrete in the foundation under the crossing. upon which will be set oak ties surround ing concrete slabs.
 He said it would be necessary to use the north side of the crossing for storage Of sand, stone and con- crete mixer. The street on the south side will be used for parking der rick cars and other equipment.
 Quick Switch 0f Tracks
 The fourth night after the job starts. which probably will be Tues day night. will be the busiest night, when it will be necessary to take up a section of railroad tracks after the last train has gone by. and have the new section in before the first train in the morning. This will be in ad- dition to the fact that trains will be using but one track during the en- tire job.
 Everything will be torn up at the crossing and the trolley company will transfer passengers around the job. On the fifth night, which will be Wednesday the company will complete the excavation on the east bound railroad track after the last train goes by and expects to finish this part of the work to permit the first train over in the morning.
 On the sixth day of the job. 1t is expected to have the tracks in po- sition and to be pouring concrete. Two or three more days will be re- quired to complete the job.
 The work. Mr. Tippits explained, would be continued day and night and all day Sunday. as close to schedule as possible. All material will be on the job before the work starts. Every piece of machinery will have a duplicate immediately available in case of breakdown.
 MT. Tippits said that it will be necessary to have the cooperation oi the police department to keep pe- destrians moving and prevent traf- fic interference. He said he had taken every possible step to guard against delays and expected the CO., operation of the city police to aid in this work.
 MT. Merriam asked whether pe- destrian traffic on Main street would