The Dual System of Rapid Transit (1912)
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The Dual System of Rapid Transit · Public Service Commission, First District, State of New York
September, 1912
State of New York
Public Service Commission
For the First District
Office: No. 154 Nassau Street, New York City
| Commissioners William R. Willcox, Chairman Milo R. Maltbie John E. Eustis J. Sergeant Cram George V. S. Williams | Counsel George S. Coleman Secretary Travis H. Whitney Chief Engineer Alfred Craven |
I. Solution of the Rapid Transit Problem.
In the Dual System of Rapid Transit, the Public Service Commission for the First District believes it has solved the present rapid transit problem of New York City. That problem, owing to the rapid growth of the City and the past failure of city authorities and transportation companies to extend the street railroad system proportionately with the growth of traffic, had become acute. Marvelous as was the growth of the City after the Civil War, the growth of traffic within the City was even more wonderful. In 1860 with the population of One million, one hundred seventy-four thousand, seven hundred seventy-nine (1,174,779), the street railway traffic of the City was Fifty million, eight hundred thirty thousand (50,830,000) fares. In 1900 when the population grew to Three million, four hundred thirty-seven thousand, two hundred two (3,437,202), the street railway traffic had jumped to Eight hundred forty-six million, three hundred fifty-three thousand (846,353,000). In the next decade; namely, from 1900 to 1910 it almost doubled. In that year with the population of Four million, seven hundred sixty-six thousand, eight hundred eighty-three (4,766,883), the traffic had grown to One billion, five hundred thirty-one million, two hundred sixty-three thousand (1,531,253,000). Such an astonishing rate of growth could not have been anticipated, and it is no wonder that the building of City transportation lines fell behind such rapidly increasing demands. The problem before the Commission, therefore, presented two phases:
(1) How to bring about the immediate expansion of the various lines so as to relieve existing congestion.
(2) How to build an entirely new system which will provide for the new traffic of future years.
When the Public Service Commission, organized July 1, 1907, undertook the solution of this problem, it was confronted with seemingly insurmountable difficulties. The difficulties were twofold: First the City's borrowing capacity was so restricted that it could not borrow sufficient money to engage in construction on the scale necessary to afford relief; second, the amendments of 1906 to the Rapid Transit Act had required terms so stringent as to preclude the co-operation of private capital.
The City of New York had been growing so rapidly that, after paying nearly $50,000,000 for the existing subway and spending other millions for permanent improvements demanded by the various boroughs, it had very little credit left to apply to new rapid transit work. The State Constitution limited its indebtedness, except for water works bonds, to an amount not exceeding ten per cent of the assessed valuation of real estate within the City limits. This debt limit had been so closely approached at the beginning of the year 1908 that, when the Commission asked the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for $16,000,000 with which to construct the first part of the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn. it was met by the opposition of the then Comptroller to the authorization of the appropriation on the ground that the margin of the borrowing capacity of the City would not warrant such an expenditure.
It is true that the courts later decided against the Comptroller and the appropriation was subsequently authorized, but the ensuing litigation consumed more than a year and postponed the beginning of work on the Fourth Avenue Subway from May, 1908, until November, 1909.
The fact that the City's financial officer had to appeal to the courts to determine whether the debt limit restriction would permit an appropriation of $16,000,000 showed that the City had so closely approached the debt limit that, even with the normal increase in real estate values each year, it could not hope to expand the margin sufficiently within the time necessary to build such rapid transit lines as the necessities of the situation demanded. Two courses to relieve the situation were open to the Commission:
First, to bring about an increase of the borrowing capacity of the City;
Second, so to amend the Rapid Transit Act as by the authorization of fair terms to induce transportation companies already enjoying rapid transit franchises to come to the aid of the City and furnish at least a portion of the money required for new lines.
City's Credit Expanded. The Commission adopted both. The State Constitution previously had been amended so that bonds issued by the City for the construction or improvement of municipal water works were exempted from the operation of the ten per cent restriction as to debt limit. The Commission sought to apply the same principle to the bonds which had been issued by the City for the construction of the existing subway and the existing dock system, for the reason that both properties, like the water works, were self-supporting and, therefore, strictly speaking, the bonds issued for their construction could not be regarded as burdensome indebtedness. A constitutional amendment to this effect was presented to the Legislature by the Commission, duly passed by two successive sessions and submitted to the people and adopted by them at the general election in November, 1909. Following this referendum the Legislature of 1910 passed a law putting the amendment into operation, and by that act the credit of the City of New York was expanded by about $120,000,000.
The Legislature also amended the Rapid Transit Act, and by the amendments of 1909, as extended by those of 1912, untied the hands of the Commission and gave it power to make contracts upon terms that, while carefully safeguarding the City's interests, were attractive to private capital.
While it had taken several years of persistent effort to pave the way, it took an even longer time and even more sustained effort to induce the existing transportation companies to agree to contribute private capital in the required amount toward the building of the new rapid transit system. Within the first six months of its existence, to be exact in December, 1907, the Commission had adopted a route for a new subway and elevated system, known as the Broadway-Lexington Avenue Line running the entire length of Manhattan Island and having two branches into the principal parts of The Bronx.
The Tri-Borough Plan. Early in 1908, the Commission adopted routes in Brooklyn which, with the Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, Subway, it linked up with the Broadway-Lexington Avenue Subway by means of bridges and tunnels over and under the East River. The whole plan became known as the Tri-Borough System. In Brooklyn it embraced the Broadway-Lafayette Avenue Subway running from the end of the Williamsburg Bridge out Broadway, Brooklyn, to Lafayette Avenue and back through Lafayette Avenue to a junction with the Fourth Avenue Subway at Fulton Street, as well as two extensions of the Fourth Avenue Subway running to Ft. Hamilton and Coney Island. The estimated cost of this system was about $147,000,000 and the plans provided for about 45 miles of new road including both underground and elevated portions.
To ascertain whether the existing transportation companies or other persons or firms commanding large capital would undertake the construction of this new system with their own money or whether the City itself would have to build it, the Commission prepared contracts in two different forms.
First, the Tri-Borough contract for construction and operation. Under this form of contract the corporation proposing to do the work was to furnish all money necessary for construction (outside of the lines then being built by the City) and to get a lease for the operation of the system when built for a period of years.
Second, contracts for construction alone. These contracts were framed for municipal construction and contemplated the furnishing of all money for that purpose by the City.
Advertising for proposals under both forms of contract was begun September 1, 1910. The time for opening the bids for construction by private capital was set for October 20, 1910, and that for bids under municipal construction contracts for October 27, 1910. When October 20 came not one proposal was received for construction and operation under the private capital contract. A week later the Commission received numerous bids for the construction with municipal funds of the principal sections of the Tri-Borough System. The formal invitation to private capital, therefore, had failed to evoke a favorable response.
During practically all this time the Commission had been informally negotiating with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the lessee of the existing subway, towards the same end. Conferences and correspondence with this company, looking toward their supplying the funds needed for extensions of the subway began as early as May, 1909, when the company first proposed to build certain extensions. This was amplified a month later after the Legislature had passed certain amendments to the Rapid Transit Act.
Design for an Uptown Station Entrance of New Subway.
First Interborough Proposal. Under date of June 30 in that year the Interborough Rapid Transit Company made a proposal to the Commission to build third tracks on its Second, Third and Ninth Avenue Elevated roads, to lengthen the station platforms in the existing subway, so that ten-car trains might be operated and to build certain extensions of the subway with its own money providing the City would build them as "extra work" under the terms of the original contract with John B. McDonald for the construction of the existing subway.
This proposal contemplated the extension of the subway from 42nd Street up Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue to and under the Harlem River to a junction with the existing subway at 149th Street; the extension of the subway south from Times Square through Seventh Avenue, Varick Street and West Broadway, Canal Street, and Manhattan Bridge to a junction with the existing subway in Brooklyn and two tracks south of Canal Street to Battery Park; also to extend the Sixth Avenue Elevated line from 149th Street across McComb's Dam Bridge and up Jerome Avenue to 194th Street; to sell to the City and to operate as a part of the subway system the Steinway Tunnel owned by the company, running from 42nd Street, Manhattan, under the East River to Long Island City; also to extend the Second Avenue Elevated Railroad across the Queensboro Bridge to Long Island City.
While the company proposed to furnish the money for these extensions, it demanded in return a lease for the operation of the new lines to be co-terminous with existing leases, that is, the subway extensions to be turned over to the City with the original subway at the end of the existing lease in 1954 and the privileges for the elevated road extensions to be coterminous with existing franchises for those lines, which are practically perpetual. The proposal gave the City the option of building the subway extensions with its own money or of having them built at the company's expense and operated at a fixed rental like the existing subway or under a profit sharing arrangement, which would divide profits with the City after paying operating expenses and other costs.
The Commission for various reasons, expressed in a letter, dated August 27, 1909, rejected this proposal but clearly indicated its willingness to consider a proposal along the same lines which would adequately meet the rapid transit needs of the City.
This was the beginning of an exchange of correspondence between the Commission and the company which, with numerous conferences between the Commissioners and the company's officials, lasted through the balance of the year 1909, all of the year 1910, and the greater part of the year 1911. Indeed, it was in the Spring of 1912 before a final agreement was made between the parties. In the year 1911 the Commission and the company practically agreed upon a plan for joint construction of new lines. This plan, however, was not approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and a subsequent arrangement, the first Dual System plan, came to naught through the refusal of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company to accept the terms offered by the City.
The early negotiations were conducted through the closing years of the term of Mayor George B. McClellan. In the election of 1909 Mayor William J. Gaynor and a new Board of Estimate and Apportionment were elected. The new board consisted of the Mayor, the Comptroller, W. A. Prendergast; the President of the Board of Aldermen, John Purroy Mitchell; the Borough President of Manhattan, George McAneny; the Borough President of Brooklyn, A. E. Steers; the Borough President of The Bronx, Cyrus C. Miller; the Borough President of Queens, Lawrence Gresser; the Borough President of Richmond, George Cromwell. Mr. Gresser was subsequently succeeded by Maurice E. Connelly, as Borough President of Queens. The new officials took office January 1, 1910. They adopted an attitude of co-operation with the Public Service Commission and from that time forward both boards have worked in harmony. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment appointed a special rapid transit committee, of which Borough President McAneny was made chairman, and including Borough Presidents Miller and Cromwell. That committee was invited into and did participate in the conferences between the Commission and the transportation companies, in which the offers of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company and other proposals for the building of new rapid transit lines were seriously considered.
Dual System Adopted. These conferences resulted in a general programme for the construction and operation of what has become known as the Dual System of Rapid Transit. It took its name from the fact that two companies agreed to join the City in carrying out the plan. These two companies were the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which operates the existing subway and the elevated lines in Manhattan and The Bronx, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which controls the operation of the elevated railroad system of Brooklyn. This agreement was embodied in the joint report of the Public Service Commission and the Rapid Transit Committee of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, dated June 5, 1911.
The main features of this agreement were that the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company should operate the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, a new subway to be built by the City in Broadway, Manhattan, and make extensions to various lines in Brooklyn, the whole to be operated under contract with the City for a five cent fare; and that the Interborough Rapid Transit Company should obtain for operation various extensions of the existing subway, which were to be built jointly by the City and the company, each contributing one-half the funds necessary for construction, and the company providing the money for equipment. These Interborough extensions included practically all of the Tri-Borough System north of 42nd Street, Manhattan, a line down Seventh Avenue from Times Square, a new tunnel to Brooklyn, and various extensions in Brooklyn, the whole to be operated for a five cent fare; also, that the company should third-track its elevated lines in Manhattan and The Bronx, build and operate certain extensions thereof, extend the Second Avenue Line over the Queensboro Bridge, and turn over to the City and operate as part of the subway the Steinway Tunnel.
Building Subway Underneath Street.
Subway Construction - Fourth Avenue Subway.
From a traffic point of view the net results of this agreement were that the Interborough Rapid Transit Company would get the logical extensions of its subway and elevated systems in Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn, and that the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company would get connections in Manhattan, namely, the Broadway Subway and the Centre Street loop, by which it could distribute the passengers from its various elevated lines through all the business district of Manhattan, south of 59th Street. The terms and conditions under which these valuable concessions were to be granted to the two companies were set forth in the report. After certain modifications these terms were accepted by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company but rejected by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company.
As the joint report provided that if either company refused to accept the terms, the lines offered to it should be offered to the other company, the lines laid out for the Interborough Company were tendered to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which indicated its willingness to accept the same. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment thereupon, on July 21, 1911, notified the Public Service Commission that it would approve contracts for the construction of the proposed subways for operation by the Brooklyn company.
Construction Begins. In the meantime the Commission had taken steps toward the construction of the principal sections of the Lexington Avenue Subway in Manhattan, upon which bids had been received October 27, 1910, under the Commission's advertisement for proposals for bids for construction with municipal funds.
The contracts for four of these sections were awarded to the Bradley Contracting Company July 5, 1911, just one month after the joint report had been submitted to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The contracts were approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment July 21, 1911, and on July 31, following, ground was broken for the first work at Lexington Avenue and 62nd Street. Appropriate ceremonies participated in by the Public Service Commissioners and members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment marked the event.
From that date to the present time (September, 1912) the Commission has proceeded to let construction contracts as fast as the preparation of plans would allow, until about $40,000,000 worth of contracts on the Broadway-Lexington Avenue Line have been let and $10,000,000 more are about ready for letting. These, with the cost of the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, about $16,000,000 and that of the Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan about $10,000,000, make the total cost of construction work on the new system under way or about to start and to be defrayed by City funds about $76,000,000.
Interborough Re-enters. It was not long after the Interborough Rapid Transit Company had refused to co-operate with the City upon the terms outlined in the joint report of June 5, 1911, until overtures were made to the Commission looking to a resumption of negotiations with that company. These overtures came from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company through Samuel Rea, one of its Vice-Presidents, whose interest in the question lay in securing for his company adequate rapid transit facilities to and from the new Pennsylvania Station at Seventh Avenue and 34th Street, Manhattan. The proposed extension of the existing subway from Times Square down Seventh Avenue would provide these facilities, and Mr. Rea was very anxious for his company that the line should be built and that the Interborough Rapid Transit Company should operate it in connection with the existing subway.
Following various conferences the Interborough Company submitted a new offer which was approved by the Public Service Commission. A supplemental report by the special committee of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, approving the same, was presented to that Board May 22, 1912, and adopted. This report gave to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, on terms similar to those of the report of June 5, 1911, although somewhat modified, the lines awarded to that company for operation in the previous report. The supplemental report was adopted by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and the Public Service Commission was informed that that board would give its approval to contracts with the two companies drawn in accordance with the terms of the report. As the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was apparently content to receive the lines originally allotted to it upon the modified terms suggested in the report, there was no difficulty in providing for the re-entrance of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company into the rapid transit agreement, and the Dual System became an accomplished fact upon substantially the same layout as originally proposed by the joint report of June 5, 1911.
II. Extent of the Dual System.
To appreciate the extent of the Dual System it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the limitations of existing rapid transit lines which it is intended to amplify and expand. Owing to the location of New York City and the peculiar conformation of its five boroughs, the rapid transit requirements are exceedingly difficult to satisfy. The business center of the Greater City, which is the goal of all transportation lines, is not the center of the City at all, but its extreme southwestern corner. This corner is composed of that part of Manhattan Island lying south of 59th Street. This is now commonly designated as the business section. Generally speaking, the northern part of this district is the locale of hotels, theatres and retail stores, while the southern part of it is the home of financial institutions, wholesale merchants, municipal offices, courts, railroad freight terminals and general office buildings. Travel on local transportation lines is, therefore, all toward this district in the morning and all away from it in the evening. It comes in two great tides, one from the north, conveying hundreds of thousands from upper Manhattan, The Bronx and the New York and Connecticut suburbs, and one from the east, bringing other hundreds of thousands from Brooklyn and Queens and points further out on Long Island. Similar streams flow in from New Jersey on the west and Staten Island on the south, but neither of these approaches in magnitude the inflow from the north or the east.
The existing local rapid transit lines (which excludes the street surface railroads) which bring passengers to and take them from this business district every day are as follows:
(1) Manhattan and The Bronx. (a) The existing subway. This is owned by the City of New York and operated on a lease by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. It consists of 26 miles of road, 73 miles of single track, running from Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn to and under the East River to the lower part of Manhattan up the east side of Manhattan to 42nd Street, west through 42nd Street to Broadway and up Broadway to 96th Street, where one branch continues out Broadway to Van Cortlandt Park, or 242nd Street, and another branch out Lenox Avenue to Bronx Park, or 180th Street. The mileage in Manhattan and The Bronx alone is 23 road and 68 track, there being 2.5 miles of road and 5 miles of single track under the East River and in Brooklyn.
(b) The Manhattan Elevated lines owned by the Manhattan Railway Company and operated under lease by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. These railroads cover 37.68 miles of road and 118 miles of single track. There are three main systems-- the Second Avenue, the Third Avenue and the Ninth Avenue lines. There is also the Sixth Avenue road, which is a separate line south of 53rd Street but uses the tracks of the Ninth Avenue line from 53rd Street north to 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, the terminus of both the Sixth and Ninth Avenue lines.
(c) Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. This is the system popularly known as the McAdoo tubes. It consists of two sets of tunnels running from New Jersey under the Hudson River to Manhattan, those at the south terminating at Church Street and those at the north entering Manhattan through Morton Street, running thence as a subway up Sixth Avenue as far as 33rd Street. The system in Manhattan has 3.2 miles of road and 7.1 miles of single track.
(2) Brooklyn. (a) The Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad System. This consists of various lines of elevated railroad leading from all outlying parts of Brooklyn to the East River and Manhattan. They include the Broadway line, the Myrtle Avenue line, the Lexington Avenue line, the Cypress Hills line, the Fulton Street line, the City Line, Brighton Beach line, the Culver line, the Sea Beach line, the New Utrecht Avenue line, the Fifth Avenue line and the Third Avenue line. These roads now send their passengers into Manhattan over the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges, by far the greater number over the Brooklyn Bridge. They include 58 miles of road and 122 miles of single track.
(b) The subway. This is owned by the City and operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in connection with the subway system in Manhattan. Passengers from various other lines and from all parts of Brooklyn come to Manhattan by this subway through the tunnel under the East River. (Sec subdivision a above.)
(c) Ferries. Lines of ferry boats cross the East River and bring passengers from Brooklyn and Queens into Manhattan.
(3) Richmond. Municipal Ferry. Practically all the travel from Staten Island to Manhattan is done by the Municipal Ferry system operating fast boats between Staten Island and the Battery. This ferry provides a boat every twenty minutes during the morning and evening rush hours.
(4) New Jersey. The suburbs in New Jersey send large numbers of passengers into the business district of Manhattan every day. These are brought to the west shore of the Hudson River by steam or electric railroads and thence come into Manhattan either by the Hudson tubes or various ferry lines.
During the year ended June 30, 1911, the period at which the Dual System was planned, the above rapid transit lines and ferries carried 924,058,050 passengers, divided as follows:
| Interborough Rapid Transit Company-subways, elevated roads, | 578,154,088 |
| Hudson Manhattan Railroad, | 52,756,434 |
| Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad System, | 167,371,328 |
| East River ferries, | 23,460,000 |
| Municipal ferry to Staten Island, | 10,540,000 |
| Hudson River ferries, | 91,776,200 |
The need for additional rapid transit is shown by the fact that all of these avenues of transportation were congested during the rush hours and that the congestion is increasing from year to year. The problem before the Public Service Commission was to provide relief in every direction. The Dual System does this:
By giving to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company a new subway line on the east side of Manhattan, north of 42nd Street, with branches in The Bronx and a new subway on the west side south of 42nd Street with a tunnel connection to Brooklyn joining the present subway in Fulton Street and extending the present subway out Flatbush Avenue to Eastern Parkway and out Eastern Parkway to Buffalo Avenue, with a branch subway down Nostrand Avenue as far as Flatbush Avenue, and an elevated extension from Buffalo Avenue out East 98th Street to Livonia Avenue and out Livonia Avenue to New Lots Road. These subway extensions alone will more than double the length and carrying capacity of the existing subway.
By giving to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company the right to third-track its Second, Third and Ninth Avenue Elevated lines and to extend the Lenox Avenue branch of the existing subway from 180th Street north through White Plains Road to 241st Street and by extending the present Third Avenue Elevated line from its terminus at Fordham north through Webster Avenue and Gun Hill Road to a junction with the White Plains Road extension of the subway.
By connecting the present Ninth Avenue Elevated road from its terminus at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue with the Jerome Avenue branch of the Lexington Avenue Subway at 162nd Street so that the new line on Jerome Avenue, extending as far as Woodlawn Road, may be operated by trains from the present Ninth Avenue Elevated Railway as well as by trains from the new Lexington Avenue Subway.
By putting in operation the Steinway Tunnel owned by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and extending it on the Queens side so that it may be operated as a part of the subway from 42d Street, Manhattan, to Long Island City at 4th Street and from there to the Queens end of the Queensboro Bridge, from which point the company will have the privilege of operating its trains to Ditmars Avenue, Astoria, and to Sycamore Avenue, Corona, over new elevated lines to be built as part of the new system.
By giving the Interborough Rapid Transit Company the right to extend its Second Avenue Elevated line from 59th Street, Manhattan, across the Queensboro Bridge and over the lines just mentioned to Astoria and Corona.
By giving the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the right to tie in its South Brooklyn elevated lines, including the Coney Island roads, to the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn and through that subway by way of a new tunnel from Montague Street, Brooklyn, to Whitehall Street, Manhattan, and from Whitehall Street up Broadway to 42nd Street, and thence up Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, and east on 59th Street to and over the Queensboro Bridge, there to connect with the City's lines to Astoria and Corona, over which the Brooklyn Company will have joint trackage rights with the Interborough Company.
By giving to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the right to operate the Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan connecting the Williamsburg and Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges and to send its elevated trains into that loop by way of the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, and possibly eventually by the Brooklyn Bridge as well.
By giving to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the right to connect the Centre Street Loop and the Manhattan Bridge Line with the Broadway subway by a new subway through Canal Street.
By giving to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the right to operate a new subway to be built by the City known as the Eastern District Subway from Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, through 14th Street to and under the East River to North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, and through North Seventh Street, Metropolitan Avenue, Bushwick Avenue, Johnson Avenue. Wyckoff Avenue and other streets to a connection with the Myrtle Avenue and Broadway elevated lines in Brooklyn.
By giving to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the right to extend its Myrtle Avenue Elevated line from Wyckoff Avenue to Lutheran Cemetery, to extend its Cypress Hills Elevated line from its present terminus, through Jamaica Avenue to Jamaica, and to extend its City Line Elevated Railroad from its present terminus through Liberty Avenue to Lefferts Avenue.
By extending the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn from its present terminus at 43rd Street through Fourth Avenue to 89th Street, Brooklyn, with a spur at 65th Street to connect with a tunnel to be built in the future under the bay to Staten Island.
The above arrangement will give to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company the logical extensions of its subway and elevated lines, including two new tunnels and one new bridge connection with Brooklyn and Queens, and will give to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company two new tunnel connections and three new bridge connections with Manhattan and a subway system in Manhattan which will enable it to distribute its passengers through the district south of 59th Street.
III. Rapid Transit Facilities More Than Trebled.
Within five years it is expected that the Dual System will be completed in all its parts. When completed the rapid transit facilities of the City will have been more than trebled. During the year ended June 30, 1911, shortly after which the construction of the new system was begun, the existing rapid transit lines carried 798,281,850 passengers. The new Dual System will have a capacity of upwards of 3,000,000,000, although it is not expected that such capacity will be demanded immediately upon the completion of the system.
The combined trackage of the existing lines (including 7.1 miles of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad) amounts to 303 miles of single track. To this will be added by the new lines of the Dual System 334 miles of single track, making a new system with 637 miles of single track. What this will mean to the City may be appreciated by considering how the existing lines will be amplified by the new additions and extensions. The Hudson and Manhattan road, however, is not to be a part of the Dual System.
Extensions of City Subway. The existing subway consists of a system having 26 miles of road or 73 miles of single track. It extends from the business center of Brooklyn under the East River to lower Manhattan, through the whole length of Manhattan Island, with two branches north of 96th Street, the western or Broadway branch running to Van Cortlandt Park or 242nd Street, and the eastern or Lenox Avenue branch running to Bronx Park or 180th Street. This subway runs up the east side of Manhattan from the Battery to 42nd Street, at which point it turns west and runs through 42nd Street to Broadway and thence up the western side of the Island through Broadway. It is, therefore, a west side line north of 42nd Street and an east side line south of that street.
Under the Dual System extensions will be made to this subway both north and south of 42nd Street, so that, when completed, the Dual System subway will have two complete north and south lines-one running up and down the west side, and the other up and down the east side of Manhattan. This will be effected by extending the west side line from 42nd Street at Times Square, south in Seventh Avenue, Varick and other streets to the Battery, and north from 42nd Street in Lexington Avenue to and under the Harlem River as far as 138th Street in The Bronx. Both of these extensions will be four-track subways, so that both local and express service can be maintained on the east side from 138th Street to the Battery and on the west side from 96th Street to the Battery.
At 135th Street the Lexington Avenue Subway will divide into two branches-one running easterly through 138th Street to Southern Boulevard and thence northerly through Southern Boulevard, Whitlock Avenue and Westchester Avenue to Pelham Bay Park; the other running northerly through Mott, River, Gerard and Jerome Avenues to Woodlawn Road. Each of these branches will be a three-track road. On the easterly branch this road will be a subway as far as a point in Whitlock Avenue between Aldus and Bancroft Streets, and from there to its terminus an elevated structure. The Jerome Avenue branch will be a subway from 138th Street to 157th Street and River Avenue, from which point to its terminus it will be an elevated road.
While these two branches will give needed relief to the east side and the west side of The Bronx, an extension of the Lenox Avenue branch of the present subway and an extension of the Third Avenue Elevated line will do the same for the northern central portion of that borough. The Lenox Avenue branch now terminates at Bronx Park or 180th Street. Under the Dual System plan a two and three-track elevated line will be built from this point northerly to White Plains Road and through White Plains Road to Becker Avenue or 241st Street, practically the City limits. The Lenox Avenue branch also will be connected with the Jerome Avenue extension at 149th Street. The proposed extension of the Third Avenue Elevated from,its present terminus at Fordham will connect with this White Plains line at Gun Hill Road. The Third Avenue Elevated line will also be connected with the Lenox Avenue branch of the present subway by a short line at about 149th Street.
Important extensions of the present subway will also be made toward the east in Queens and Brooklyn. Under the terms of the Dual System agreement the Steinway Tunnel, which runs under the East River from 42nd Street, Manhattan to Fourth Street, Long Island City, will be extended on both sides of the river and operated as a part of the subway. The westerly terminus of this tunnel is now at 42nd Street and near the Grand Central Station. It will be extended westward through 42nd Street to Broadway at Times Square. On the Queens side it will be extended as a subway and elevated line through and over the Sunnyside Yard of the Long Island Railroad Company and thence via Davis Street and Ely Avenue to the Queensboro Bridge Plaza. This tunnel will be a two-track subway from Times Square to its present terminus in Long Island City. The extension in Queens will be a two and three-track elevated road.
Underground Railroads in Forty-Second Street in Front of New Grand Central Station.
From the Queensboro Bridge Plaza two elevated railroads will be built connecting with the Steinway Tunnel Extension. One of these roads will be a two and three-track elevated line north through Debevoise Avenue to Ditmars Avenue, Astoria. The other will be a two and three-track elevated line through Queens Boulevard, Greenpoint Avenue, and Roosevelt Avenue to Prime Street, Corona. Trains from the subway in Manhattan can pass over both of these extensions by going through the Steinway Tunnel. These two lines will also be used by trains from the Second Avenue Elevated line in Manhattan going over the Queensboro Bridge as well as by trains of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company passing through the Broadway and 59th Street subways in Manhattan and over the Queensboro Bridge. These Queens branches are to be owned by the City but trackage rights on each are to be given to both the Interborough and the Brooklyn companies.
The Seventh Avenue Subway in Manhattan to be operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company will be connected with Brooklyn by a new tunnel. This tunnel line will leave the Seventh Avenue line at West Broadway and Park Place and will run through Park Place under the United States Post Office property and through Beekman Street to William Street, through William Street to Old Slip and thence under the East River to Clark Street, Brooklyn, and through Clark Street to a connection with the present subway at Borough Hall. The present subway which ends at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, Brooklyn, will be extended out Flatbush Avenue to Eastern Parkway and out Eastern Parkway to Buffalo Avenue as a four-track subway. A branch two-track subway will run down Nostrand Avenue as far as Flatbush Avenue and a two or three-track elevated extension will be made from Buffalo Avenue out East 98th Street to Livonia Avenue and through Livonia Avenue to New Lots Road. The new tunnel line will be a two-track road and with the existing tunnel from the Battery to Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, will give the Interborough Rapid Transit Company four tracks under the East River.
These new lines will give to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company 37.9 miles of new subway single track in Manhattan (including Harlem tunnels), 53.3 miles of new subway and elevated road (single track) in The Bronx, 30.6 single track miles of Steinway Tunnel and its extensions and elevated road branches for Queens, and 25 miles of new tunnel and subway and elevated single track in Brooklyn (including East River tunnels).
Elevated Extensions-Manhattan and The Bronx. Important additions and extensions are also provided for the elevated lines of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company under the Dual System. These elevated lines, namely the Second, Third and Ninth Avenue roads, are mainly two-track lines. The total elevated mileage in Manhattan and The Bronx, including the Sixth Avenue line from 53rd Street south to the Battery, is 118 miles of single track. With the proposed additions under the Dual System the mileage will be expanded to 139 miles of single track.
Additions to these elevated lines are to be of two kinds:
(1) The Third-Tracking of Existing Roads.
(2) The Extension of Existing Roads.
The third-tracks on the elevated railroads are needed for express train service. To a certain extent this service is already provided by third-tracks on the Ninth Avenue Elevated from Christopher Street north to 116th Street and by a third-track on the Third Avenue Elevated from 42nd Street north to 129th Street. Under the Dual System it is proposed to complete the third-tracks on these two lines and to add a third-track to the Second Avenue Elevated road. The Second Avenue line will be third-tracked from the City Hall Station in Manhattan north to 129th Street and the Harlem River, the Third Avenue line from City Hall Station north to 129th Street and the Harlem River and the Ninth Avenue line from Rector Street north to 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, the present terminus. The existing bridge across the Harlem River carrying the Third Avenue Elevated tracks will be reconstructed into a four-track bridge, and the four tracks will be extended north to 144th Street in The Bronx. The company will have the privilege of later extending the third-track to the present terminus of the Third Avenue line at Bronx Park.
The above improvements will enable the company to run express trains through from 155th Street on the Ninth Avenue line clear to Rector Street, and from the Harlem River on the Second and Third Avenue lines clear to the City Hall.
Both the Ninth and the Second and Third Avenue Elevated lines will be given new outlets to the north under the Dual System. The Ninth Avenue line will be extended as a two-track elevated railroad from about 157th Street and Eighth Avenue across the Putnam Railroad Bridge, over the Harlem River, thence over the right-of-way of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company and private property, thence as a tunnel emerging as an elevated structure in 162nd Street near Jerome Avenue and thence over 162nd Street to River Avenue, where a connection will be made with the elevated structure of the Jerome Avenue Extension of the Lexington Avenue Subway. The right to operate elevated trains over the Jerome Avenue Extension will be given to the Interborough Company, so that when that extension is built elevated trains starting at the Battery may run clear through to Jerome Avenue and Woodlawn Road.
The Third Avenue Elevated line will be extended from its present terminus at Bronx Park as a two-track elevated line north through Webster Avenue to Gun Hill Road and through Gun Hill Road to White Plains Road where a connection will be made with the White Plains Road extension of the Lenox Avenue branch of the present subway. This extension will permit of trains on the Third Avenue Elevated running clear through from the City Hall Station to 241st Street or Becker Avenue. as the company will have the right to operate its elevated trains over the White Plains Road extension of the subway.
The Second Avenue Elevated line will also be extended from 59th Street over the Queensborough Bridge to a junction with the Queens elevated lines to Astoria and Corona. These lines, therefore, will be used for operation of both elevated and subway trains.
These improvements will add to the existing trackage of the Manhattan Elevated system 10.5 miles in Manhattan, 9.9 miles in The Bronx, and 1/2 mile for Queens of single track.
New Subways for Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which, at present, operates no lines in Manhattan, will have for operation, under the Dual System, a new subway system in Manhattan with which, by tunnels and bridges, it will connect its elevated system in Brooklyn and Queens. It will also operate the Fourth Avenue Subway and the Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan. The proposed Broadway subway in Manhattan, to be built by the City and operated by this company, will run from Whitehall Street, Manhattan. north through Church Street, Vesey Street and Broadway to 42nd Street, through Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, and through 59th Street to and over the Queensboro Bridge. This subway will be a two-track road from Whitehall Street to Park Place, a four-track road from Park Place and Broadway to 59th Street, and a two track road through 59th Street and over the Queensboro Bridge. At the Queens end of the bridge it will connect with the proposed elevated lines to Astoria and Corona, so that Broadway subway trains may be operated through to and from both of those points.
The Broadway subway will be connected with Brooklyn by three different lines. One will be a subway and tunnel running from the Fourth Avenue Subway at DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn through Willoughby Street and Montague Street, under the East River to Whitehall Street, where it will join the Broadway subway running north through Whitehall Street, Church and Vesey Streets to Broadway.
Another connection will be made at Broadway and Canal Street by a two-track subway eastward through Canal Street to the Centre Street Loop Subway and thence over the Manhattan Bridge by the tracks leading into the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn.
Another connection will be made at 14th Street and Broadway by a new two-track subway to run from Sixth Avenue and 14th Street east through 14th Street and under the East River to North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, and thence through North Seventh Street, Metropolitan Avenue and Bushwick Avenue to Johnson Avenue, thence to be continued as a two and three-track elevated line through Johnson Avenue and Wyckoff Avenue and other streets to a connection with the existing Broadway elevated line, connecting in Wyckoff Avenue also with the Myrtle Avenue Elevated line. This route is what is known as the Eastern District Rapid Transit line.
The Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan, now nearly completed, will form an important part of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's new system, and will probably be the first line in Manhattan to be operated by that company. The Centre Street Loop Subway begins at Chambers Street and Park Row near the Manhattan terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge and runs north as a four-track subway through Centre Street to Delancey Street Extension and through Delancey Street Extension to and over the Williamsburg Bridge across the East River. A spur will leave this line at Canal Street and run as a two-track subway over the Manhattan Bridge. Two tracks from the Manhattan Bridge line will run west through Canal Street to a junction with the proposed B. R. T. subway in Broadway. Under the Dual System plan the Centre Street Loop Subway will be continued as a two-track route south in Nassau Street and Broad Street to a connection with the proposed B. R. T. Tunnel from Whitehall Street, Manhattan, to Montague Street, Brooklyn. While the loop is already connected with the tracks over the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, there is no physical connection with the Brooklyn Bridge, but it is proposed in the future to make such a connection if conditions of grade do not prevent, so that eventually the Centre Street Loop will be linked up with the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the Manhattan and Williamsburg structures. By using Brooklyn Bridge and a part of the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company will be enabled to send trains from all of its elevated lines into Manhattan by way of the Centre Street Loop and, if desirable, can send trains around the loop by dispatching them into Manhattan over one bridge and back to Brooklyn by another.
Subway Construction - Brooklyn Loop Lines. [Delancey Street]
The Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, which is being built by the City and is now nearly completed, will be extended from its present terminus at 43rd Street and Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, down Fourth Avenue to 89th Street and will be operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. It runs from the Brooklyn end of the Manhattan Bridge, through Flatbush Avenue Extension partly as a six-track subway, to Fulton Street, and thence as a four-track subway through Fulton Street, Ashland Place and Fourth Avenue to 43rd Street. The proposed extension will be a four-track subway as far as 65th Street at which point a two-track subway and tunnel, to be built in the future, will diverge to Staten Island. From 65th Street to 89th Street the extension will be a two-track subway, but it will be built in the west side of Fourth Avenue, so that two additional tracks may be laid in the future if desirable.
With this subway the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company will connect most of its existing south Brooklyn and Coney Island lines. The Brighton Beach line will be connected with the Fourth Avenue subway by an extension of the latter to be built through Fulton Street to St. Felix Street and under the property of the Long Island Railroad Company and through private property to Flatbush Avenue and out Flatbush Avenue to a connection with the Brighton Beach line at Malbone Street.
Brooklyn Elevated Extensions. From the Fourth Avenue subway at 38th Street a new subway will be built running through the property of the South Brooklyn Railway Company to Tenth Avenue and thence by an elevated railroad over Tenth Avenue to New Utrecht Avenue and thence by way of the existing Brooklyn Rapid Transit line, which is to be made an elevated road, through New Utrecht Avenue, 86th Street and Stillwell Avenue to Coney Island. From 38th Street and Ninth Avenue an extension will be built as an elevated road along 37th Street to Gravesend Avenue and thence along Gravesend Avenue over the present Culver Line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, which is to be made an elevated road, to Surf Avenue, Coney Island. The Sea Beach line to Coney Island will also be connected with the Fourth Avenue subway by a new subway to be built eastward from the Fourth Avenue line through 65th Street to a junction with the Sea Beach line.
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company will also extend its Myrtle Avenue Elevated line to Lutheran Cemetery, its Cypress Hills Elevated line through Jamaica Avenue and Flatbush Avenue to Grand Avenue, and its City Line Elevated road through Liberty Avenue to Lefferts Avenue. The above additions and extensions will add to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's system 32.7 miles of single track in Manhattan, 4.8 miles of single track in Queens (including Queensboro Bridge), and 128.50 miles of single track in Brooklyn (including East River tunnels).
Summary of Existing Lines.
Track Mileage Interborough Rapid Transit System Existing subway......................... 73. Existing elevated lines................. 118. Total................................... 191. Brooklyn Rapid Transit System Existing elevated lines................. 105. Grand Total................................... 296.
This mileage will be supplemented by the construction of new lines as
follows:
| |
| Track Mileage | |
|---|---|
| Lexington Avenue Line-From 35th Street and Park Avenue to 135th Street, The Bronx. All subway. Four tracks. | 20.6 |
| River and Jerome Avenue Line-From 135th Street and Park Avenue
to Woodlawn Road. One-fourth subway, three-fourths elevated. Three tracks. | 18.20 |
| Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue Line-From 135th
Street and Park Avenue to Pelham Bay Park. One-half subway, one-half elevated. Three tracks. | 21.4 |
| White Plains Road Extension-From 179th Street and Boston Road
(West Farms Division of existing subway) to and up White Plains Road to Becker Avenue. All elevated. Two and three tracks. | 13.7 |
| Seventh Avenue Line-From Times Square to the Battery. All subway. Four tracks north of Park Place. | 15.2 |
| Park Place, William and Clark Street Line-From West Broadway
through Park Place, private property, Beekman Street, William Street and Old Slip in Manhattan, under the East River to Clark Street, Brooklyn, and through Clark Street and Fulton Street to the present subway. All subway. Two tracks. | 4.5 |
| Steinway Tunnel-From Park Avenue and 42nd
Street, Manhattan, to and under the East River to Long Island City. All subway. Two tracks. | 3.2 |
| Steinway Tunnel Extension in Manhattan-In 42nd Street from
Times Square to junction with Steinway Tunnel. All subway. Two tracks. | 0.8 |
| Queens Extension of Steinway Tunnel to Queensboro Bridge Plaza. Subway and elevated. Two and three tracks. | 2.6 |
| Astoria Line-Crescent Street to Ditmars Avenue. All elevated. Two and three tracks. (Trackage rights also to BMT.) | 7.5 |
| Corona and Woodside Line-Crescent Street to Prime Street. All elevated. Two and three tracks. (Trackage rights also to BMT.) | 16.5 |
| Eastern Parkway Line-From terminus of existing subway at
Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, out Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway to Buffalo Avenue. All subway. Four tracks. | 12.7 |
| Nostrand Avenue Line-From Eastern Parkway to Flatbush Avenue. All subway. Two tracks. | 4.8 |
| Livonia Avenue Line-From Eastern Parkway through East 98th
Street and Livonia Avenue to New Lots Road. All elevated. Two tracks. | 5.1 |
| Total. | 146.8 |
| |
| Putnam Bridge Line-From 157th Street and 8th Avenue across
Putnam Bridge, over the Harlem, over New York Central right of way and private property and 162nd Street to River Avenue to connection with Lexington Avenue subway extension in Jerome Avenue. Two tracks. | 1.3 |
| West Farms Connection-From 3rd Avenue elevated line at about
143rd Street, through private property, Willis and Bergen Avenues to Brook Avenue connection with West Farms Division of the subway. Two tracks; and including Harlem River Bridge Extension of Third Avenue Line-Four-track bridge and four-track line between Harlem River and 144th Street. | 3.1 |
| White Plains Road Connection-Elevated line from Fordham
Avenue, through Webster Avenue and Gun Hill Road to White Plains Road extension of the subway. Two tracks. | 5.5 |
| Queensboro Bridge Line-From 2nd Avenue elevated line to Queensboro Bridge Plaza. Two tracks. | 0.5 |
| Total. | 10.4 |
| |
| Second Avenue and Third Avenue Lines-Completion of third track from City Hall station to 129th Street. | 8.1 |
| Ninth Avenue Elevated Line-Completion of third track from
Rector Street to 155th Street. (New portions from Rector to 14th Street and from 116th Street to 155th Street.). | 2.4 |
| Total. | 10.5 |
| |
| Broadway-Seventh Avenue Subway-Morris Street to 59th Street. Four tracks north of Park Place. | 17.6 |
| Fifty-ninth Street Subway-Seventh Avenue to Queens Plaza subway and bridge. Two tracks. | 4.46 |
| Extension of Centre Street Loop Lines Subway-From Brooklyn
Bridge down Nassau Street to Broad Street and through Broad Street to Whitehall Street tunnel. Subway. Two tracks. | 2.0 |
| Canal Street Connection-In Canal Street from Broadway to Manhattan Bridge. Subway. Two tracks. | 1.2 |
| Connection with Brighton Beach Line-Fulton Street, St. Felix
Street and Flatbush Avenue to Malbone Street. Subway. Two tracks. | 2.4 |
| Eastern District Line-14th Street and Sixth Avenue to East New York. Subway and elevated. Two tracks. | 14.82 |
| East River Tunnel-Whitehall Street to Montague Street. Subway. Two tracks. | 4.0 |
| Fourth Avenue Subway Extension-43rd Street to 89th Street. Four tracks to 65th Street. | 6.9 |
| Fourth Avenue Subway-Manhattan Bridge to 43rd Street. Subway. Four tracks. (Already constructed.) | 17.0 |
| Centre Street Loop Subway-From Park Row to Williamsburg Bridge. Subway. Four tracks. (Already constructed.) | 5.6 |
| South Brooklyn Lines. Connection 38th Street, 4th and 9th Avenues. Subway and open cut. Three tracks. | 1.88 |
| New Utrecht Avenue, 39th to 86th Streets to Coney Island. Elevated. Three tracks. | 16.5 |
| Culver, 9th Avenue to Coney Island. Elevated. Three tracks. | 16.05 |
| Total. | 110.41 |
| |
| Crosstown Line-Greenpoint. Elevated. Two tracks. | 11.0 |
| Jamaica Lines-Elevated. Two tracks. | 13.2 |
| Myrtle Avenue (Lutheran Cemetery), Fresh Pond Road. Elevated and right of way. Two tracks. | 2.0 |
| Brighton Beach. Open cut. | 2.0 |
| Sea Beach, 65th Street and 4th Avenue to Coney Island. Open cut and embankment. Two tracks. | 16.05 |
| Eastern Parkway to Malbone Street. Subway. Two tracks. | 1.8 |
| Canal Street Spur. | 0.24 |
| Total. | 46.29 |
| |
| Fulton Street Elevated Line-Third track from Brooklyn Bridge to East New York. | |
| Broadway Elevated Line-Third track from Williamsburg Bridge to East New York. | |
| Myrtle Avenue Elevated Line-Third track from Broadway to Ridgewood. | |
| Total. | 9.30 |
Summary of Existing Lines.
| |
| Existing subway. | 73.0 |
| Existing elevated lines. | 118.0 |
| Subway and elevated lines for construction jointly by City and Company. | 146.8 |
| Elevated railroad extensions to be constructed by company. | 10.4 |
| Third-tracks on elevated roads to be constructed by company. | 10.5 |
| Total | 358.7 |
| |
| Existing elevated lines. | 105.00 |
| Subway and elevated lines for construction jointly by City and company. | 110.41 |
| Elevated extensions for construction by company. | 46.29 |
| Third-tracking and reconstruction by company. | 9.30 |
| Total | 271.00 |
| Grand Total-Dual System. | 629.7 |
IV. Growth and Development of the Dual System.
While the Public Service Commission has developed the Dual System, there are certain parts of it which date from the days of the Rapid Transit Railroad Commission. The powers and duties of that Commission devolved upon the Public Service Commission for the First District under the Public Service Commissions Law, and on July 1, 1907, the Public Service Commission organized and took over the work of the Rapid Transit Commission.
Prior to that date the Rapid Transit Commission had adopted routes for many rapid transit lines in various parts of the City. Most of these routes were legalized by the old Commission, that is, the consents of property owners to their construction, or where that had failed a determination in lieu thereof from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, had been obtained. The Public Service Commission kept alive all these consents by repeated applications to the courts, so that when the planning of the Dual System was undertaken many of these old routes were utilized and thus a vast amount of time was saved.
As to two of these routes, the Rapid Transit Commission had gone even further, namely, the Fourth Avenue Subway route in Brooklyn and the Centre Street Loop Subway route in Manhattan. In the case of the Fourth Avenue route, the old Commission had progressed the plans to a point where calling a public hearing was necessary, and in the case of the Centre Street Loop had completed the plans and specifications and awarded the contracts. The Public Service Commission took up both of these subways at the point where the Rapid Transit Commission left off and pushed them to completion. Both later were included in the Dual System plan.
Broadway-Lexington Avenue Subway. During the first six months of its existence the Public Service Commission devoted much time to planning a new subway system, and on December 31, 1907, adopted the route for the Broadway-Lexington Avenue Line. This line, which is described elsewhere, is one of the principal routes of the Dual System, but it has been divided between the two operating companies, so that the Interborough Rapid Transit Company takes that part of it north of 42nd Street and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company gets that part beginning at the Battery and running up Church, Vesey Streets and Broadway as far as 9th Street, where connection will be made with the Broadway-Fifty-ninth Street route. From 9th Street north to a point near 42nd Street, where a junction will be made between the existing subway and the northern part of the Lexington Avenue line, the road as originally planned up Irving Place and Lexington Avenue will not be built.
Before the final partition of the line between the two operating companies was made, the Commission let a contract for the construction of that portion known as Section 6, which lies in Lexington Avenue between 26th Street and 40th Street. This was awarded to the Bradley Contracting Company for $3,634,213.50. The contractor began work but was notified April 26, 1912, to suspend operations on account of the decision just reached to omit the construction of parts of this section. No work has been done there since that date.
At the time this contract was let, the Commission was proceeding on the alternative plan provided in the Joint Report of June 5, 1911, awarding all the proposed lines in the Dual System to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for operation by reason of the failure of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company to accept the terms outlined in that report. Several other sections of the Lexington Avenue work were awarded about the same time and many others have been awarded since. The work on this line, which was started July 31, 1911, on one section, has grown so rapidly that there are now under contract twelve different sections at prices aggregating $35,521,291.19. Bids for the construction of three additional sections, the cost of which is estimated at more than $4,000,000, have been asked for and will be opened during the current month (September, 1912). In a few weeks, therefore, the Commission will have under contract about $40,000,000 of the work on the Lexington Avenue line.
Contracts Let on Lexington Avenue Line. The following list shows the contracts which have been let on the Broadway-Lexington Avenue line, the name of the contractors, the date when the contract was awarded by the Commission, when it was approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the amount of the contract:
| Section | Name of Contractor | Awarded by Commission | Approved by Bd. of Est. | Amount of Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Degnon Con. Co., 60 Wall Street, New York City. | Jan. 24, 1912 | Feb. 1, 1912 | $2,355,828.50 |
| 2-A | O'Rourke Eng. Const. Co., 345 Fifth Avenue, New York City. | Mar. 30, 1912 | Jul. 15, 1912 | 912,351.60 (Upper Level $792,779.50, Lower Level, $119,572.10) |
| 3 | Underpinning and Foundation Co., 290 Broadway, New York City. | Jan. 12, 1912 | Jan. 18, 1912 | 2,295,086.50 |
| 5 | Metropolitan Con. Co., 195 Milk Street, Boston, Mass. | Jul. 26, 1911 | -- | 2,419,127.29 |
| 6 | Bradley Con. Co., 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. | Jul. 5, 1911 | Jul. 21, 1911 | 3,634,213.50 |
| 8 | Bradley Con. Co., 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. | Jul. 5, 1911 | Jul. 21, 1911 | 3,369,484.20 |
| 9 | Patrick McGovern, 6 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. | Dec. 8, 1911 | Feb. 1, 1912 | 1,961,997.00 |
| 10 | Bradley Con. Co., 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. | Jul. 5, 1911 | Jul. 21, 1911 | 3,253,072.80 |
| 11 | Bradley Con. Co., 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. | Jul. 5, 1911 | Jul. 21, 1911 | 3,132,193.05 |
| 12 | Oscar Daniels Co., 38 Park Row, New York City. | Aug. 1, 1911 | Aug. 3, 1911 | 2,825,740.74 |
| 13 | Bradley Con. Co. 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. | Oct. 31, 1911 | Nov. 16, 1911 | 4,071,416.50 |
| 14 | Arthur McMullen, 149 Broadway, New York City. (Type K-Steel tubes.) | May 14, 1912 | Jul. 15, 1912 | 3,889,775.05 |
| 15 | Hagerty-Drummond Co., 48 Park Row, New York City. | Oct. 10, 1911 | Oct. 26, 1911 | 3,820,129.75 |
| Total | $37,940,418.39 | |||
It will be noticed that the contract for Section 5 has not been approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. This is one of the sections on that portion of the Lexington Avenue line between Broadway and 9th Street and Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street, which will be abandoned by reason of the partition of the road between the two operating companies.
Fourth Avenue Subway. Taking up the plans for the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, where the Rapid Transit Commission left off, the Public Service Commission held the required public hearings and made changes in the plans so as to make the cross sections of the subway larger than that of the existing subway, and to make the grades easier. These changes were completed in the winter of 1907-8. Advertisements for bids for the construction of this line were published in the early part of 1908 and in May of that year the Commission awarded contracts to the lowest bidders as follows:
Contracts for Fourth Avenue Subway.
1. Manhattan Bridge Construction No. 1. Nassau Street to Willoughby Street. James P. Graham, B'klyn, N. Y. Assigned to Smith, Scott & Co., 263 Bridge St., B'klyn, N. Y. Railroad............................. $1,020,476.55 Pipe Galleries....................... 101,374.55 2. 9-C-1, Manhattan Bridge Connection. Willoughby Street to Ashland Place. William Bradley, 1 Madison Ave., N. Y. C. Railroad............................. $3,436,019.00 Pipe Galleries....................... 58,695.00 3. 11-E-1 & 11-A-1, Fourth Avenue Route. Ashland Place to Sackett Street. William Bradley, 1 Madison Ave., N. Y. C. Railroad............................. $3,392,091.50 Pipe Galleries....................... 208,135.00 4. 11-A-2, Fourth Avenue Route. Sackett Street to Tenth Street. E. E. Smith Contracting Co., Room 1372, 50 Church St., N. Y. C. Railroad............................. $2,283,553.30 Pipe Galleries....................... 206,672.00 5. 11-A-3, Fourth Avenue Route. Tenth Street to Twenty-seventh Street. Tide Water Building Co. and Thomas B. Bryson, 1499 B'way, New York City. Railroad.............................. $1,945,640.50 Pipe Galleries........................ 251,076.00 6. 11-A-4, Fourth Avenue Route. Twenty-seventh Street to Forty-third Street. E. E. Smith Contracting Co., Room 1372, 50 Church Street, N. Y. C. Railroad.............................. $2,808,982.80 Pipe Galleries........................ 173,665.00
These contracts aggregated about $16,000,000. As before stated, there was litigation over the debt limit, and the Commission was not able to execute the contracts until the fall of 1909. In November of that year work was begun. This work has been steadily prosecuted since that time until today the six sections are nearly completed. In Fourth Avenue and in Flatbush Avenue extension the subway is nearly ready to turn over to the City, but, owing to delays in starting the work, due principally to the necessity of obtaining certain real estate, the sections in Fulton Street and Ashland Place are not nearly so far advanced. It is expected, however, that these will be completed near the close of this year (1912).
Centre Street Loop Subway. The Centre Street Loop Subway was designed by the Rapid Transit Commission to connect the Manhattan Terminals of the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges across the East River. That Commission prepared the plans and let the contracts for its construction in the early part of the year 1907, prior to the creation of the Public Service Commission, which has since supervised its construction. At the present time it is entirely completed with the exception of the southernmost section between Park Row and Pearl Street. Work on this section was suspended May 15, 1908, at the request of the then Mayor George B. McClellan in order that the work of starting the new Municipal Building, which was then being planned, might go ahead. For more than two years no subway work was done on this section, but in March, 1911, the Municipal Building was so far advanced that it was possible for the subway contractor to resume operations. That work has progressed to the present time (September, 1912) and the section is now more than half completed.
Contracts for Centre Street Loop Line. The contractors and contract prices on this subway were as follows:
| Section | Contractor | Date of Letting | Price for Railway | Price for Pipe Galleries | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9-O-1 | Bradley Con. Co. | June 13-07 | $998,328 | $5,500 | $1,003,828 |
| 9-0-2 | Degnon Con. Co. | Apr. 18-07 | 2,952,000 | 83,000 | 3,035,000 |
| 9-0-3 | Cranford Co. | May 23-07 | 2,150,000 | 60,000 | 2,210,000 |
| 9-0-4 | Bradley Con. Co. | June 13-07 | 1,518,302 | 29,040 | 1,547,342 |
| 9-0-5 | Bradley Con. Co. | June 13-07 | 1,229,136 | 69,300 | 1,298,436 |
| Total | $8,847,766 | $246,840 | $9,094,606 | ||
Section 9-O-1 is the section upon which work is still going on. Owing to the long suspension of this work, the Public Service Commission entered into a modified contract with the Bradley Contracting Company by which the contractor was to be compensated for the damages caused by the suspension of work, so that the original contract price, as above given, does not represent the full cost of this section. In this supplemental contract the City agreed to pay the Bradley Company $250,635.62 in settlement of all claims, and $1,150,000 to complete the work.
The sections on which bids will be opened and contracts let this month are:
Section 1 of the Lexington Avenue Subway from near the Battery up Trinity Place and Church Street to a point about 80 feet north of the center line of Dey Street.
Section 1-A of the Lexington Avenue Subway from a point under Church Street about 80 feet north of the center line of Dey Street through Church Street, private property, Vesey Street and private property to Broadway between Vesey and Barclay Streets. and thence under Broadway to a point about 75 feet south of the center line of Park Place.
Section 1 on the Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue branch of the Lexington Avenue Subway from 138th Street and Alexander Avenue through 138th Street and Southern Boulevard to a point north of 142nd Street.
Section 1 of the extension of the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, from 43rd Street and Fourth Avenue down Fourth Avenue to 65th Street.
Section 2 of the extension of the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, from end of Section 1, down Fourth Avenue to 89th Street.
As the Lexington Avenue line, the Fourth Avenue line, and the Centre Street Loop line will all become a part of the Dual System, there is, therefore, under construction at the present time about $65,000,000 worth of new underground roads. The sections for which bids will be opened this month (September) it is estimated will cost about $10,000,000, so that the City will soon have under contract about $75,000,000 worth of work. This will represent about one-half of the entire amount which the City of New York is to expend as its share in the construction of the Dual System.
V. Terms and Conditions of Dual System Contracts.
As appears incidentally in the foregoing, the City will enter into contracts with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, or a company to be formed in its interest, for the operation of the various lines constructed or to be constructed as above outlined. Some of these lines have been already built by the City, some by the companies and some are under construction. In the case of each company the City will furnish a part of the funds necessary for construction and the company a part, but the money for equipment of both subway and elevated roads as well as for the reconstruction and extension of elevated railroads will be furnished entirely by the companies. All told, the City's contribution to the new system, including the Centre Street Loop subway, the Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, subway (both nearing completion) and the contracts for the construction of the Broadway-Lexington Avenue line as far as awarded, will be about $150,000,000.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company will provide $56,000,000. for construction and $21,000,000 for equipment. This applies only to new subways or subway extensions, whether elevated or underground. In addition, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company is to pay for the extensions and the third-tracking of its elevated railroads.
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company will contribute about $60,000,000 toward the dual system. About $13,000,000 of this will be applied on account of the construction of City owned lines, about $21,000,000 for the extension and third-tracking of its existing elevated line and about $26,000,000 for new equipment.
The total cost of the new system, therefore, will be about $347,000,000.
Five Cent Fare. In the territory allotted to each company, the rate of fare for a continuous ride will be five cents. This will include transfers from new to old lines or vice versa on each company's system, but will not include transfers between lines operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and lines operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, nor from elevated to subway lines of the Interborough system.
The operating contracts to be made with each company will run for a period of forty-nine years from the beginning of operation. This provision will apply to all subways or extensions of subways, whether constructed by the City or by the operating company or by both jointly, except that the lines of the Centre Street Loop line in Manhattan with its proposed extension in Nassau and Broad Streets and the necessary connections to East River bridges may be leased for 20 years with the privilege of renewal for twenty years after a readjustment of terms.
This period of forty-nine years was determined after much negotiation between the Public Service Commission and the companies. The Commission would not consider any proposal from the Interborough Company not providing for synchronizing the leases of the existing subway and the new lease. Those leases are two in number, one covering what is known as Contract No. 1, which embraces all of the subway above City Hall, Manhattan; and the other known as Contract No. 2, which embraces the subway south of City Hall in Manhattan, the tunnel under the East River from Bowling Green and the extension to Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. These leases differ in the length of term; that for Contract No. 1 being for fifty years with the privilege of renewal for twenty-five years on readjustment of rental, and that for Contract No. 2 being for thirty-five years with the privilege of renewal for twenty-five years after readjustment of rental. The former, therefore, will expire in 1954 and the latter in 1940. With the renewal privilege of twenty-five years the longer contract, therefore, has yet to run sixty-seven years, while the shorter one has a possible life of fifty-three years. The Commission and the Company finally agreed upon a basis of forty-nine years for all subway lines, both old and new.
The Commission regards this agreement as one of great benefit to the City, for it is now apparent that the leases made for the operation of the existing subway twelve years ago were unduly favorable to the operating company, for the reason that they provided for no sharing of profits with the City and allowed the Company all profits from operation over and above the fixed rental, which was confined to the annual interest charges on the bonds issued by the City for the construction of the subway, plus 1% per annum for a sinking fund. The construction bonds issued at different times carried different rates of interest, some 3-1/2%, some 4% and some higher. The rental for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912, was $2,312,943. The Company's profits from the operation of the road are more than double this amount.
The leases for the extension of existing elevated lines and for third tracks on such lines will run for eighty-five years, but like the subway leases the lines will be subject to recapture by the City. The difference is accounted for by the fact that, while the subway leases end at a specified time when the operating company's rights to them will cease entirely, the existing elevated railroads are held under perpetual franchises granted in years past, before the State and the City adopted the policy of limiting such grants. The term of these leases, viz., eighty-five years, will run from the time the new elevated roads or portions thereof are put into operation.
City to Share Profits. In the contracts for operation, provision will be made for the sharing of profits with the City after the operating company has paid all necessary expenses and taken out its existing earnings on the old lines. This will be accomplished by pooling the revenues derived from the operation of all the lines (not including elevated railroads and their extensions) and deducting therefrom payments to be made on account of the operator and of the City in the following order:
1. To the operating company-- all operating expenses including damages for accidents, taxes, provision for depreciation, etc.
2. To the City (in the case of the Interborough contract)-- the amount of rental paid to the City under contracts for the operation of the existing subway at the time of the beginning of operation under the new leases.
3. To the operating company-- an amount equal to the average net earnings from the operation of existing lines included in the new leases. The contract with each company shall specify what shall constitute these average net earnings.
4. To the operating company-- 6% upon its investment in construction or equipment after the date of the operating contract but before the beginning of general operation; and actual interest charges plus 1% for sinking fund upon additional expenditures.
5. To the City-- actual interest charges plus 1% for sinking fund upon its bonds issued to provide for the construction of new lines.
6. To the City-- actual interest charges plus sinking fund of 1% upon bonds it may issue for betterments or improvements upon old or new lines.
7. To the City and to the operating company-- to each, one half of the earnings remaining after the above deductions have been made.
Provision will be made that any deficiencies arising in making the above payments shall be cumulative and paid off out of future receipts.
Provisions for Recapture. The new contracts will provide that the City at any time after ten years of operation may take over any line, title to which is vested in the City, upon making certain payments to the operating company. These payments are to include:
1. Any amount the Company may have invested either for construction or equipment plus 15%, less the amount accumulated in any sinking fund and in deferred maintenance charges. This amount is to decrease annually in proportion to the accumulation of the amortization fund, until at the end of the term the line becomes the property of the City without any payment.
2. A sum equivalent to the unamortized amount of brokerage charges.
In exercising its right to recapture, the City will have the option either to pay the operating company out of its own funds or to transfer the line or lines recaptured to any other operating company upon the payment of the required amount by such company to the original operating company.
In any case of recapture the terms of the pooling arrangement shall be readjusted at the option of either party as to the remaining lines.
The above general terms will apply to both the Interborough Rapid Transit and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Companies under the new leases.
The following additional terms apply to the respective companies individually.
Interborough Rapid Transit Company. 1. The leases of the existing subway to be leveled so that they shall expire at the same time as the new leases for new lines.
2. The City shall have the option of taking over a part of the existing subway line if it desires to obtain possession of a complete East Side line or a complete West Side line. The existing subway is a West Side line north of Forty-second Street and an East Side line south of that street. By the Lexington Avenue extension to the north and the Seventh Avenue extension to the south, both new construction, there will be a complete East Side line and a complete West Side line. The option just mentioned will allow the City either to take the existing subway south of Forty-second Street and join it to the Lexington Avenue line north of that street, or that part of the existing subway north of Forty-second Street and join it to the Seventh Avenue subway running south from that street. The Interborough Company's consent to this option, however, is given only on the proviso that "the lien of any duly authorized mortgage be not disturbed."
3. The Company agrees that the City may recapture either the whole system of new lines or one or more of the separate groups of lines; and also that the City after thirty-five years may take over the lines of the existing subway upon paying the Company an amount equal to the worth of the unexpired portion of its subway leases, estimated on the annual net profits for five years immediately preceding such recapture. If the period of final amortization has been passed, the worth of the lines is to be calculated on the annual net profits for the five years immediately preceding the completion of the amortization period.
4. The Company is to expend $56,000,000 for construction and $21,000,000 for equipment of the new lines, which, with its total investment in the existing subway as of June 30, 1911, approximately $48,000,000, shall make its total investment in subway lines, extensions and equipment $125,000,000.
5. If the new equipment shall cost less than $21,000,000, the Company is to add the difference to the fund it will contribute for construction, and if more than $21,000,000 is required for equipment for the first year of operation, the Company is to supply the excess. Upon this excess it will receive annually actual interest charges and other costs, plus a sinking fund not exceeding 1% per annum.
6. The City and the Company are each to furnish one-half of any further moneys needed for betterments or improvements in the construction of either old or new lines. Additional capital for betterments or improvements in equipment or for additional equipment must be provided by the Company alone.
7. The Company is to turn over to the City the Steinway Tunnel from Forty-second Street under the East River to Long Island City, costing $8,500,000 at a nominal valuation of $3,000,000, which will be deducted from its share of the capital to be provided for the construction of the new system. The Company, on its part, agrees that the cost of construction of all contracts already let on the Broadway-Lexington Avenue subway shall be deducted from the City's share of the cost of construction of new lines.
8. As before stated, the Company is to deduct from the pooled earnings an amount equal to the earnings of existing subways. This amount is to represent the average annual income from the operation of the existing subway for the two fiscal years ended June 30, 1911, which is $6,335,000. The Company is to receive this amount both as the equivalent of current earnings and as compensation for the pooling of the receipts from the old lines with those from the new ones, the leveling of existing subway leases, its consent to the City's right to take over part of the existing subway to make a complete East Side or West Side line, for services in connection with the operation of the property, and for its agreement to furnish one-half of the money needed for the construction of the new lines and for the entire cost of the new equipment.
Manhattan Elevated Lines. Certificates under the Rapid Transit Act will be issued for the extension and third-tracking of the Manhattan Elevated lines. The certificate for the extensions will be granted to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which leases the elevated roads, and the certificate for the third-tracking will be granted to the Manhattan Railway Company, which owns them.
1. The fare from any part of the elevated system and proposed extensions is not to exceed five cents.
2. Third Tracking. The grant for additional tracks is to be made for a term of twenty-five years with three renewal periods of twenty years each, with readjustment of rentals at each renewal. The City is to have the right to recapture within ten years but not for railroad operation.
3. Elevated Extensions. The grant for the extension to the elevated railroads is to be for a term of eighty-five years from the time when the extensions are put in complete operation. The City is to have the right to recapture, at any time after ten years upon the same terms as are stated in the subway contracts, both extensions and equipment.
4. As compensation for the third-tracking grant, the City is to receive an annual payment not exceeding 2% of the increased gross receipts of each station served by express trains. When both extensions and third-tracking have been completed and placed in operation, the gross receipts from both are to be pooled with the gross receipts of the existing elevated lines. From these pooled receipts, after the deduction of rentals, operating expenses, and the 2% franchise tax, the Company is to pay to the City 50% of all increases of net revenue above its present earnings. The average of the net operating receipts of the existing system for the two years ended June 30, 1911, is to be the sum allowed. If the receipts or profits of the enlarged system are less than the average of the receipts of the present system for such two years, the deficiencies, are to be treated as cumulative and to be paid out of future profits.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. 1. The Company is to expend $13,000,000 in the construction of the new lines to be included in its system. This amount is to be apportioned to the elevated extensions of the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, the Flatbush Avenue connection with the Brighton Beach line and the Canal Street connection with the Manhattan Bridge. The Company is also to provide $21,000,000 for the extensions and improvements of its elevated system and $26,000,000 for the equipment of the lines it is to operate.
2. Revenues from the operation of the lines included in the system are to be pooled from all of the City owned lines allotted to the Company for operation, the Sea Beach line from Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, to Coney Island, and the existing lines of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company and the Canarsie Railroad Company, including trackage rights over the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges.
3. The Company to receive from the pooled earnings after the deduction of operating expenses for each year of the forty-nine years of the lease, an amount equivalent to the average net earnings from the operation of the lines of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company, the Canarsie Railroad Company and the Sea Beach Railway Company, during the four years preceding June 30 next before the date of the beginning of pooling.
4. The Company agrees to the City's right of recapture of City owned lines after ten years, either as regards the whole system except the Centre Street Loop line, or as regards any one or more groups of lines. The Company to continue to operate the Centre Street Loop lines if the City should terminate the contract as to other City owned lines before the expiration of twenty years from the beginning of pooling.
5. The City to have the right of recapture after ten years of all elevated railroad extensions, title to which remains vested in the Company, and all of the equipment; also to recover any additional tracks placed upon existing elevated structures in the public streets, though not for railroad operation. For the recapture of such elevated extensions or additional tracks, the City will make payments in the same way as in the case of the recapture of lines covered by the forty-nine year contracts. The cost of such additional tracks or extensions is to be amortized during the life of the contract so that at the end of the term they will become the property of the City without payment.
VI. Character and Size of New Underground Railroads.
The new subways will show great improvements over the existing subway in many details. The existing subway was the first underground road ever operated in New York City, and necessarily, in some particulars, was more or less experimental. Actual operation of it disclosed several features which experience proved undesirable, and the engineers of the Public Service Commission have eliminated such features from the plans for the new work. For instance, some of the stations in the existing subway are built upon curves, which causes undesirable conditions when trains are loading and unloading at these curved platforms, and also makes it necessary for all trains approaching such stations to slow down to avoid danger. While these curved platforms are protected by an excellent signal system, the Commission's engineers believe that the safety of operation will be promoted by eliminating curved platforms. Therefore all stations upon the new subways will be located on straight stretches of track, and so far as possible sharp curves will be avoided on all lines.
Another feature of the existing subway which has been found inferior is the placing of all four tracks in one tunnel. This condition prevails, with few exceptions, for the whole stretch of four-track subway from Brooklyn Bridge north to 96th Street. Actual operation showed that this arrangement interfered with the effectiveness of the train movement upon ventilation. While the frequent passage of trains stirred up the air, it did not insure the renewal of it, and in consequence the City had to spend a great deal of money to put in ventilating devices. The Commission's engineers believe they have greatly simplified the problem of ventilation by constructing the new subways with separate tunnels, so that the passage of trains will produce a piston action, driving the air out ahead of them and causing the in-rush of fresh air by suction from the rear. There will be a partition wall between each pair of tracks so that the effect of having one tunnel for trains going one way and another tunnel for those going in the opposite direction will be produced. In this partition wall archways will be provided at stated distances as places of safety to which track laborers may retire to avoid being struck by trains. Of course, where there are only two tracks, they will be separated by a partition wall.
Heat to Be Lessened. Another feature of the existing subway which causes some discomfort is the high temperature prevailing during the periods of maximum operation. Engineers believe that much of the heat is due to the friction of brake shoes on wheels and wheels on tracks, as well as to the operation of numerous electric motors underneath the cars. In building the first subway the engineers took extra precautions to keep out water and provided waterproofing under the floor, up the sides and over the roof of the tunnel. While this waterproofing keeps the water out, it also keeps the heat in. It is the theory now that if less waterproofing were used, the walls of the subway would allow more of the heat to escape. Accordingly, in the new designs waterproofing is provided only in cases where it is absolutely needed to keep out water, and that is mainly over the roof, under the floor of the subway and along the sides in places where the road runs below water level. This waterproofing consists of layers of woven fabric and asphalt and brick laid in asphalt, and there will be much less of it used in the new work than was put in the first subway.
All the new subways also will be larger than the first one. In the case of the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, the Centre Street Loop in Manhattan, the Broadway and 59th Street Subway in Manhattan, and other subways to be operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the difference will be considerable. The first subway has a height of 12 feet 10 inches above the base of the rail and has a width of about 12 feet 6 inches for each track. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit subways will have a maximum height of 15 feet above the base of the rail and a width of 14 feet for each track, and a minimum height of 13 feet 2 inches, and a minimum width of 13 feet 6 inches.
Plans for the subways to be used for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company were originally made according to these dimensions, but when the arrangement was made to connect certain of the new subways with the existing subway, all to be operated by one company, it became evident that it would be useless to have part of the system of large bore and part of smaller diameter. The plans, therefore, were changed so as to make the dimensions of the new subways for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company approximately the same as those of the existing subway. Accordingly they will be built with a height of 13.2 feet above base of rail and a width of about 13 feet 6 inches for each track. That is, a two-track subway will be 28.5 feet, the three-track subway 42 feet and the four-track subway 55.5 feet wide.
Station platforms in the new subways will also be larger than those first provided for the first subway. When originally built the latter were long enough to accommodate only eight-car express trains and five-car local trains. Subsequently, owing to the great growth of traffic, it was necessary to enlarge these platforms to accommodate ten-car express trains and six-car local trains. This improvement cost the City $1,500,000. Profiting by this experience, the Commission has decided to have the stations in the new subways built long enough to receive ten-car express and six-car local trains.
Reinforced concrete will be used extensively in construction. While the frame-work of the subways will be of steel, the walls and partitions will be made of reinforced concrete. This type of construction has been used both in the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn and in the Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan and has given great satisfaction. It is so strong that at one point in Brooklyn where the Fourth Avenue Subway passes under the existing subway, the latter rests entirely upon the roof of the former.
Another change will be the introduction of double decked subways. This type has been resorted to for a considerable portion of the Lexington Avenue Subway, not that it offers any superior characteristics for operation, but that in narrow streets, like Lexington Avenue, it is more economical to build the local tracks on one level and the express tracks in a tunnel directly below them than to put all four tracks on a level and pay for the private property on either side which it would be necessary to encroach upon.
In the new tunnels under the East River and the Harlem River footpaths will be provided so that in case a train should be stalled and it would become necessary to unload it in the tunnel, passengers may leave the train and walk in safety out of the tunnel.
No Obstruction to Street Traffic. The Public Service Commission has also profited by the experience of the original subway builders in regard to the inconvenience caused property owners by the construction of subways in busy streets. Strict provisions for the minimizing of such in convenience are inserted in all the new construction contracts. There will be no repetition of the long stretches of open cuts, such as marked the building of the present subway in 42nd Street. In all such streets the contractor will be required to cover his excavation with planking and substitute plank roadways for the pavements which he removes. He will also be required to confine the openings in the streets to such shafts as may be necessary to take out the excavated material. In this way street car and vehicle traffic will be kept moving as usual during the construction of the work, and storekeepers will not lose trade by reason of having access to their places of business obstructed. This method of construction will be followed in Broadway, Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street-- in fact in all of the streets in the congested district. It may be seen in actual operation today both in lower Broadway and in Lexington Avenue, where the new subways are being built while the street traffic goes on as usual. Only in the outlying districts, where traffic conditions will permit, will there be any open cut work allowed, and then only after the engineers of the Public Service Commission have satisfied themselves that such open cuts will not work unreasonable hardships to owners of property. Of course, no subsurface work of such magnitude can be carried on without causing some inconvenience, but it will be the aim of the Commission to minimize this inconvenience.
Ornamental Elevated Structures. The new elevated railroad construction also will show marked improvement over the type heretofore used in New York City. The elevated structures will be more sightly, and the road bed so built as to make the operation of trains less noisy. In certain places, like the Queens Boulevard in Queens Borough, where the City authorities are striving for beauty effects in street construction, the elevated structure will be of ornamental design. Photographs of such designs are reproduced on other pages.
Elevated Structure - 75 Foot [Wide] Street.
Design for Ornamental Elevated Structure.
Parts of the new system will be two-track, parts three-track and parts four-track lines. In the case of the lines to be operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the new subway up Lexington Avenue from 42nd Street to beyond the Harlem River, will be a four-track line, as will also the new subway south from Times Square through Seventh Avenue and other streets to Park Place. South of Park Place the road will be a two-track line. In The Bronx, where the Lexington Avenue line divides into two branches, each branch will be a three-track line. North of 157th Street on the Jerome Avenue branch and north of a point between Aldus and Bancroft Streets the Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue branch will be elevated construction.
The White Plains Road extension of the West Farms branch of the existing subway will also be a three-track elevated line.
The Interborough subway from Park Place and West Broadway to and under the East River to Brooklyn will be a two-track line. The extension of the Brooklyn system, however, from Atlantic Avenue out Flatbush Avenue to Eastern Parkway and out Eastern Parkway to Buffalo Avenue will be a four-track road. The branch down Nostrand Avenue will be a two-track subway and the extension out Livonia Avenue will be a three-track elevated line.
As the Steinway Tunnel is a two-track line, its extensions, in Manhattan from the Grand Central Station to Times Square and in Queens from the end of the tunnel to Queensboro Bridge Plaza. will also be two-track lines. The Manhattan extension will be a subway under 42nd Street and the Queens extension will be both subway and elevated. The elevated lines from the Queensboro Bridge Plaza to Astoria and to Corona will be three-track roads.
Of the lines to be operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company the Broadway Subway from Park Place north to 59th Street will be a four-track road. Its 59th Street extension from Seventh Avenue to and over the Queensboro Bridge will be a two-track road. South of Park Place and through the new tunnel under the East River to Brooklyn it will be a two-track road.
The Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan will be a four-track line from the Brooklyn Bridge north to the Williamsburg Bridge, with a two-track extension over the Manhattan Bridge. The extension of the loop down Nassau and Broad Streets to a connection with the new tunnel to Brooklyn will be a two-track subway. Other connections in Manhattan, such as the Canal Street extension from the Centre Street Loop line to the Broadway Subway, will be two-track lines.
Design for Ornamental Elevated Structure at Station.
In Brooklyn the main line of the Fourth Avenue Subway will be a four-track road, although in Flatbush Avenue Extension and other places there will be six or more tracks for short distances. Four-track construction will continue down Fourth Avenue as far as 65th Street, where the proposed tunnel to Staten Island will diverge. South of 65th Street to 89th Street the subway will be a two-track line, although provision will be made for its expansion to a four-track line if the needs of the future demand. The elevated railroad branches of the Fourth Avenue Subway to Coney Island, that is, the Gravesend Avenue line, the New Utrecht Avenue line and the Sea Beach line, will be three-track roads.
The Eastern District Subway in 14th Street, Manhattan, from Sixth Avenue to and under the East River and over the route laid out to the Eastern District, will be a two-track subway in New York, under the East River and in Brooklyn as far as Bushwick Avenue, and beyond that an elevated road. All other extensions and connections for the Brooklyn company's system in Brooklyn and Queens will be two-track roads.
Old Beach Tunnel. During the work on Section Two of the Lexington Avenue Subway now under construction, the contractors uncovered in Broadway, between Park Place and Murray Street, the remains of the old Beach Pneumatic Tunnel. This was the first tunnel built for underground railroad purposes in New York City, and dated back to the early 1870s. It was designed for operation by cars propelled by air pressure applied from the outside. It was cylindrical in form, and the cars were of a shape to fit in the tube, which was made of brick. While the road was operated as a curiosity for a short time, it never became a practical railroad, and, after many vicissitudes, the company promoting it abandoned the work. The old tunnel had remained undisturbed under Broadway for forty years until the contractors for the new Broadway Subway removed it.
First Subway Built in New York. Interior of Old Beach Pneumatic Tunnel Destroyed in Building Broadway Subway.
VII. Steps Necessary to Lay Out and Build Rapid Transit Roads.
Few persons realize the extent of the preliminary work for the building of rapid transit railroads. They are constructed by the City under authority of the Rapid Transit Act, which imposes certain duties connected therewith both on the Public Service Commission, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the Mayor and the Corporation Counsel. In general the Public Service Commission selects the route through which a proposed rapid transit line is to be built, makes the maps and plans for the subway or elevated line desired, obtains the consents of property owners or of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court to the building of the road, prepares forms of contracts, holds hearings thereon, advertises for bids, lets the contracts and supervises the construction. The route and general plan must be approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the Mayor. The contracts must be approved as to form by the Corporation Counsel, and after execution approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and, if the City is to pay for the work, appropriations therefore must be made by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, after which the contracts are executed by the Public Service Commission. The steps necessary from start to finish are as follows:
- Preliminary survey of streets to be traversed.
- Preparation of route maps and resolutions.
- Application to and approval by Board of Estimate.
- Consent of property owners or of Appellate Division.
- Survey of surface and subsurface structures.
- Preparation of contract plans.
- Preparation of form of contract.
- Public hearing on form of contract.
- Approval of form of contract by Corporation Counsel.
- Advertisement for and receipt of bids.
- Acceptance of bids and submission to Board of Estimate for approval and appropriation.
- Execution of contract and commencement of work.
- Preparation of working plans and preparation of steel plans.
- Preparation of record plans.
- Arbitration of disputed items of cost.
Surveys and Inspection. Preliminary surveys are necessary to show the location of building lines and the physical structures in and under the surface of the streets. These surveys are made by the engineers of the Public Service Commission. Then it is necessary to take photographs of the street and the structures standing along the street before work begins, so that the contractor may be held to a restoration of the surface as it was before work began, and also that property owners may not successfully prosecute unjustifiable claims on account of damages. The Commission employs an official photographer to do this work, and it has large files of photographs showing the previous condition of every street in which subway work has been undertaken.
To safeguard the City's interests it is also necessary that material entering into the construction of subways shall be inspected before it is used. The Commission's engineers not only do this inspection work on the ground, but are also sent to distances to inspect the making of the steel and the mixing of the cement which may be used.
The work of obtaining consents of property owners is of no small magnitude. The law provides that before a rapid transit railroad is built in any street the Public Service Commission shall get the consent of holders of property owning a majority in value of the property along the proposed line, and if that is impossible, an order from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, holding that the building of the proposed road will be a public benefit. In some cases, after diligent canvassing by representatives of the Commission, the consents of property owners are obtained; in others the Commission is compelled to apply to the Appellate Division for the appointment of a commission to determine whether the proposed road shall be built. When this commission reports the Appellate Division approves the report, and if it is favorable, this approval serves in lieu of the consents of property owners.
Preparation of Plans and Contracts. The preparation of detailed plans for the construction of a subway is a work of great magnitude and necessarily occupies a long period of time where the work is extensive in character. The Commission employs an engineering department, under its Chief Engineer, which, at the present time, numbers more than 600 employees-- including engineers, draftsmen, architects, clerks and stenographers. Every inch of steel work and every cubic foot of concrete going into the new subway must be calculated in advance and shown in the plans, and as conditions vary on each route, individual plans must be prepared for each stretch of road. When the engineers have finished the plans it is then necessary to multiply them for the use of the bidders. This is done by lithographing and blue printing in quantities. Enough copies are thus obtained to supply all needs. Such copies are sold by the Commission for a nominal charge, and anyone may buy them.
The lawyers of the Commission have to spend a great deal of time in the preparation of the contracts. The form of these contracts change from time to time according to differences in conditions, so that new forms are constantly demanded. For instance, it would be impossible for the Public Service Commission today to use the form of contract adopted by the Rapid Transit Commission twelve or fifteen years ago. While the construction contracts are generally along the same lines, the contracts for joint construction and operation of the lines, included in the Dual System, are so entirely different from anything ever used before that the Commission's counsel had to do pioneer work along entirely new lines. Notwithstanding the utmost diligence, the framing of these contracts was the work of months. These contract forms also must be printed so that the necessary number of copies may be obtained. An idea of the cost of printing and lithographing the plans and contracts may be obtained from the fact that the Commission had to spend more than $20,000 for such work on the Broadway-Lexington Avenue and the Fourth Avenue Subways.
Public Hearings and Award of Contracts. The law throws so many safeguards around every step of this work that much time is needed to bring a rapid transit project to the point of beginning construction. After the preliminary surveys of a given route are made, the Commission adopts the route and general plan and sends them to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. That board must hold a public hearing on them, and the Mayor must also give his consent thereto. Even with the utmost expedition this takes two or three weeks or a month. When approved the route and general plan come back to the Public Service Commission, which then begins the work of getting consents of property owners and the preparation of contract plans. If the line is a long one, this may take months or a year. The Commission, in its turn, must hold a public hearing on the form of contract, and notice of such hearing must be advertised for at least two weeks. After this hearing the contract is put in permanent form, adopted by the Commission and sent to the Corporation Counsel for his approval. When approved by him, the Commission begins advertising for bids for construction. Under the law such proposal advertisements must run for at least two weeks, and as that is too short a time to permit the bidders to make their figures the Commission usually gives a notice of from three to five weeks. When the bids are received the Commission's engineers go over the proposals and recommend the letting of the contract to the lowest bidder, if satisfied of his ability to perform the work. It is a notable fact that in every case of contract letting by the Public Service Commission, the award has gone to the lowest bidder, and during its five years of existence the Commission has awarded contracts aggregating nearly $60,000,000.
Within a few days after the receipt of the engineers' recommendation, the Commission can award the contract. In doing so it passes resolutions making requisition upon the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for the appropriation of the money necessary for the work, if the contract is one that calls for municipal construction. The contracts and requisitions then go to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which usually refers them to the Comptroller of the City, who subsequently reports either in favor or against approval. If approved the contracts are sent back to the Public Service Commission, which is then free to execute the contracts with the lowest bidders. Even if this is done promptly there must be further delay because the contracts allow the successful bidder sixty days in which to assemble his plant and start the work of construction.
The Commission's work is not ended with the execution of a contract for construction. Very often there are differences between the Commission's engineers and the contractor in regard to allowances for extra work. It is sometimes necessary also to change the plans during construction, and where such cases involve loss or gain to the contractor, due allowance must be made therefor in the final settlement. The law provides that such differences may be arbitrated, and it is the duty of the Public Service Commission to carry out the arbitration proceedings. The arbitrators hold sessions at which witnesses are examined for both sides, and after the taking of testimony, render their report awarding what is due, in their estimation, to the contractor. The largest case of this kind handled by the Public Service Commission is known as the John B. McDonald Arbitration. McDonald was the contractor for the existing subway, and the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company was his successor. The company made claims of more than $6,000,000 for extras. These claims were arbitrated in the manner provided by the contract, and the Commission and the company finally came to a settlement for about $1,500,000-- thus saving the city about $4,500,000.
This HTML edition corrected from OCR provided by the Making of America Project at the University of Michigan, with permission. The original page images and OCR for this book can be found at University of Michigan Digital Library, Dual System of Rapid Transit for New York City, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library 2005.