The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 21

1 THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE NEW YORK CITY. THURSDAY. OCTOBER 15. 1908. PICTURE AND SPORTING SECTION PICTURE AND SPORTING SECTION! CENTRE STREET SUBWAY LOOP AND MANHATTAN BRIDGE NEARING COMPLETION WITH NO TRAFFIC ARRANGEMENTS IN SIGHT.

V. T3' 'IT JFT WHERE THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE ENDS IN BROOKLYN, SHOWING ABSENCE OF TERMINAL ARRANGEMENTS. TOWARD BROOKLYN. could unquestionably reimburse Itself for any outlay required to operate the loop, and which at the same time wbuld give it a franhcise of Incalculable value. This would be the operation, not alone of the subway loop, but of Its elevated trains into the loop running over both the Williamsburg and Manhattan, bridges, and possibly, at some future date, the Brooklyn Bridge.

This plan, taken lif connection with proposed spur of the subway loop through Canal street to the North River, would give the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company valuable terminal facilities in Manhattan, which could have no other effect than to draw large patronage to It from other transit lines, and there Is reason to believe that a project as broad as this would be carefully considered by tho company before rejection. As a preliminary step to this solution of the problem is the application of the Brooklyn Rapid' Transit Company for a franchise to construct an elevated extension for Its lines upon the Flatbush avenue extension, connecting with the Manhattan Bridge, and which is Intended to Include the operation of Brooklyn elevated trains over the bridge Into Manhattan. Manhattan Bridge Problem Unsolved. At 'this time, with the Manhattan Brldgn only a little more than a year from completion, no terminal arrangements In Manhattan have been begun, or even determined upon, as It is first necessary to know what transit lines are to operate over tho span before these arrangements can be entered Into. The practical course, In the opinion ot well informed engineers, without corporation retainers, is to permit the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to have the franchise It seeks, but to have the trains, Instead of making the Manhattan plaza of the bridge a torminal point, continue through the two-track subway in Canal streot and through the four-track Centre street loop to Park row.

In fact, experience has proven the in-advlsablllty of making bridge-ends terminal points In the future.The city's growth and the demands for interborough communication have caused the theory that bridges should be terminals for transit lines to become obsolete, and It Is felt that in the future the treatment given to bridges should be that they constitute highways for the continuous use of transit lines Into sections of the city remote from them. Should the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company be given a franchise to operate its trains merely to the Manhattan plaza of the new bridge, situated at about the point of the Bowery and Canal street, passengers would here be compelled to transfer to other lines and to pay an extra fare to reach the business sections of lower Manhattan, to which they would be Immediately accessible were the trains to operate through the loop to Park row. The Vexed Question of Grades, Curves and Equipment. But, In any consideration of the possible operation of the Centre street loop, the authorities are brought face to face with the problem of the grades by which the subway is reached from the bridges. At both the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges this grade is fixed at.

approximately 6 per which in operation. It BRIDGE STRUCTURE LOOKING built, however, the members of the Tub-lie Service Commission and the officials of the Bridge Department are bending their energies toward the best possible solution of the problem as it exists today, but many almost Insurmountable obstacles are In the way of the wisest determination of the use to which the subway loop Is to be put as well as the means to be taken to accomplish this result, once the best plan is decided upon. Operation of Subway loop Will Difficult. The Centre street loop. In the flrBt place, contains grades, which make its operation exceedingly difficult and costly, and which, while this is both a physical and engineering problem feasible to overcome, makes the matter of the right tenant (or the loop not so easily adjusted.

It is generally held that the subway loop must fall of its full measure of usefulness to this borough, unless the operation through It -and over both the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges of the Brooklyn elevated trains can be brought about. Any other operation of the loop would necessarily mean that the trains either would bring passengers merely to the threshold of Brooklyn, In the present stage ef subway construction, or that many years must elapse before the loop achieves the purpose for which it was supposedly built. Into this problem also enters the question of fare. Should the loop not be operated by the Brooklyn elevated lines. Its operation will have to be by a short line company, In Manhattan, meaning either an extra fare In that borough or In Brooklyn, with the further Inconvenience of establishing a paid transfer point.

Brooklyn I Trains Should Use loop. In other words, it Is held by men with an ax to grind, that the subway loop, to be of any real benefit to Brooklyn and to divert traffic from tho Brooklyn Bridge to any appreciable extent, must be operated by the elevated lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, and there Is no alternative that will give to the loop itself or to the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, independently, that measure of utility which the public of Brooklyn has a right to expect. Here the authorities aro given another problem, In the unwillingness of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to undertake the operation of the subway loop upon any terms which the Public Service Commission has yet been in a position to advance or has advanced, tinder the provisions of the law, the operating company must pay Interest upon the cost of the subway at the rate for which the money was borrowed by the city, and must also pay a fixed sum Into the Sinking Fund, In addition to the necessary operating expenses. This the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company has already expressed Itself, In unequivocal terms, as unwilling to consider, in so far as tho operation of the loop itself Is concerned, and the company has permitted itself to go so far as to say that It cannot see what financial gain would accrue from the operation the loop at nil commensurate with the expense Involved. A Possible Solution of Problem.

There Is. however, one way by which the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company i Jl 3 5 i 3 1 4 3 3 MANHATTAN END OF Centre street subway loop, 1 Manhattan, connecting the iTilliamsburg and Manhattan ridges, will, according to the i Btement of the chief engineer of the Public Service Commission, under whose supervision It Is being constructed, be finished in about. one year. How the loop will be utilized or by whom it will be 'operated, when finished, however, Is as much of an enigma to-day as when the first shovelful of earth was excavated for It, and yet upon this point will be largely determined the utility of the Manhattan Bridge, as well as the practicability of the loop Itself as a remedy for tho congestion upon the Brooklyn Bridge and as a measure of transit relief for the whole of this borough. Responsibility for this serious state of affairs rests not upon the Public Service (Commission, nor upon the Bridge Depart-fnent, but Is entirely upon the shoulders of the old Rapid Transit Commission, which laid out the route of the subway loop without previously solving the question At operation, when it should be completed.

What Win Be Done With Subway IiOOpP As matters now stand, there 1b not the remotest Idea as to how or by whom the subway loop is to be operated, or how long it will be compelled to remain In disuse after completion. The plain facts of the case are, that while the construction of the loop has progressed rapidly, according to the original plans, there are presented both engineering and financial difficulties In the way of Immediate operation that raise the serious doubt as to whether the loop will for a long period be operated at all. The conviction further exists among those whose study of transit conditions constitutes them authorities upon the subject, that the construction of the subway loop has boen a grave error, and that those who held to the view that an elevated loop In Manhattan, connecting the three East River bridges, was the proper solution of Brooklyn's transit problem, are In a fair way to see their prophecy confirmed. Will an Elevated Loop Have to Be BuiltP Some even go so far as to say that, although the subway loop will soon be completed, the necessity for an elevated loop has been In no wise diminished, end that eventually the elevated loop will Have to be constructed. That the acceleration of public sentiment In Manhattan against the building of elevated structures upon the East Side was largely responsible for the determination to construct a subway In place of an elevated loop Is now generally admitted, as is the fact that this false sentiment against elevated structures has since largely disappeared.

Now that the subway loop has been f7ilHi) tion of the subway loop would In no way lessen the necessity for trains of the Brooklyn elevated system to cross the Manhattan Bridge. With the unwillingness of tho Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to operate Its trains from the Williamsburg Bridge into the Manhattan BUbway loop, if this operation has to be considered as a single proposition, tho loop would in all probability remain unused, unless by Independent subway operation that would involve an extra fare and would Include no transfer to the trains of the Brooklyn elevated system. The folly of the construction of the subway loop, entirely apart from the engineering blunders which it has Involved, is apparent to most thoughtful Brook-lynites, considering tho fact that there was never any willingness, Implied or expressed, upon the part of tho Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to consider its operation, but, on the other hand, the corporation made It quite plain at tho time tho subway was authorized that It had no Intention whatsoever of considering the project. The Centre street subway loop Is the first subway built by the city where the contract called for merely construction and equipment. In all previous contracts ot the kind the contract hag.

been for construction, equipment and operation, so that at the time It was started It was definitely known by what corporation It would be operated and what sorvlca the public might expect. Municipal Operation May Be Necessary. Should the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company finally determine against the operation ot Its elevated trains into the loop, municipal operation might eventually become necessary to secure any utilization whatsoever of tho tunnel, and even this would, tinder tho present law have to be upon a basis that would Insure tho city an earning capacity for tho loop sufficient to meet tho fixed charges on the cost, which the law compels shall bo covered. It Is regarded as reasonably certain that the future will witness tho Invasion Into the traction situation of tho city ot new capital, at no far distant date, and that In this event additional subway linos uniting the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as the extension ot tho subway system In this borough would plnco the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company at a serious disadvantage were It not to assume tho operation ot tho subway loop In Its entirety. In fact, that It would eventually bo placed In tho position of having to make tho long haul, while rival companies would make tho shortor one at the same rato ot far.

In Conclusion. Tho conclusion finally reached by a representative number of. authorities upon tho wholo situation Involved In tho subway loop and In the Mnnhnttnn llrldgo is that, as a remedy for thn pressing problem presented nt I ho time Its construction was authorised, tho subway loop will In no event Jimtlfy Its substitution for nn elevated loop nnd thnt, should the right tenant for It not be secured. It will fail entirely of its purposo, as well as to greatly lessen the utility ot the Manhat tan Bridge Itself. Is thought, would Involve the use of a motor for each car constituting a train.

At the Brooklyn Bridge the grade which i it would be necessary to establish to form a connection with the loop Is even greater than this, and It is believed by a. number of engineers that connection with the Brooklyn Bridge, although in the original plans prepared by the old Rapid Transit Commission, presents so many serious operating difficulties as to make It extremely doubtful whether this connection will ever be accomplished. Not alone Is the grade one ot the primary obstacles at the Brooklyn Bridge, but the operation of the trains into a subway loop would necessitate a sharp curve that would make rapid service almost out of the question, so it is averred. Thus It can be seen that In one essential respect, at least, the subway loop thus far fails to achieve what tho elevated loop would certainly have been able to accomplish, physical connection between the three East River bridges. This question of grades raises one ot the most complex problems with which both the Public Service Commission and the transit companies will have to deal.

The Public Service Commission now has the authority to make the traffic agreement with the transit companies for the operation of the loop, but it must secure a tenant, not alone willing to meet the fixed charges, but that will afford tho servlco which the loop is called upon to supply. The more fact that It Is a subway and not sn elevated structure brings to the fore the subject of rolling stock, and, while the old Rapid Transit Commission, upon what warrant Is unknown, evidently expected the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company to operate its clovated lines Into the subway loop, It Is believed that this would mean practically a new equipment of rolling stock upon tho part of the company, at an enormous expenditure. It fa for these reasons that the corporation is unwilling to undertake this outlay without definite assurance that its permanent increase of business from the operation of Its elevated lines Into Manhattan would Justify this step, and thus far the corporation has professed its entire Inability to see where the remuneration would come In, unless it were to receive all of the Manhattan subway loop, including the Canal street spur to the North River and that from the Manhattan Bridge to the section in Centre street running to City Hall Pork. The company has, however, never expressed Its unwillingness to consider tho acquirement of this terminal In Manhattan, If taken as a whole, and there is, lndeed.i very good reason to believe that a proposition of this magnitude would receive Its earnest attention. The Manhattan Bridge and Subways.

In the making of definite plans for the loop and for the Manhattan Bridgo, tho prospect of future subways uniting the two boroughs must not be lost sight of. The tri-borough route, of which tho Fourth avenue subway constitutes a part, Is laid out over tho Manhattan Bridge, and provision must be made for tho operation of this line, as well as for tho operation of other future subway trains over the Manhattan Bridge. There Is also before tho Public Service FINISHING A SECTION OF Commission the application of the Interborough Company for a franchise to construct a subway under the Flatbush avenue extension, connecting with the prosont subway, and having its Brooklyn terminus at Atlantic avenuo, and the Manhattan terminus at Third avenue, where it would connect with the Third avenue elevated railroad, where free transfer to the Manhattan elevated system Is Included in the corporation' proposal. Whether this application Is rejected or not, the problem Is that arrangements must be made upon the Manhattan Bridge for the operation not alone of the existing elevated lines in Brooklyn, but for future subway lines as well. In the many different plans which the engineers of both the Public Service Commission and the Bridge Department havo evolved for the utilization of the Manhattan Bridge, It has been necessary to consider the probable early extension of the subway system of the greater city, as well as the making of suitable accommodations for elevated trains, which at the present time is unquestionably tho more vital of the two problems, i Most of the plans upon which the engineers have worked appropriate the four tracks on the lower deck of the bridge to subway and elevated trains, end the four tracks on the upper deck to surface lines.

While the capacity of the structure Is eight tracks, as against four on tho Brooklyn Bridge, the many lines that would converge upon the structure, were all of the proposed subways to bo built, makes the apportionment of the tracks difficult of adjustment. Surface lines on Manhattan Bridge a Complicated Factor. It is certain that to enable it to fulfill Its destiny, no plan for tho Manhattan Bridge will bo complote that docs not Include tho operation over it of tho Brooklyn surface lines. A fnctor which also has to bo considered 1b accommodations for the possible operation of the trolley cars of tho Manhattan surface lines to the Brooklyn terminus of the bridge. Should, however, tho four tracks upon the lower deck of the bridge be incapable of caring for all of the present elevated lines and future subways which logically must use the bridgo, it Is clear that two of the upper-deck tracks must be resorved for either subway or clovated trains, and this would definitely bur from the bridgo Manhattan surface cars, as thoro would bo no room for them.

Tho officials of the Bridge Department hold to the view that a slnglo track upon the bridge is capablo of caring for tho traffic of at least two tracks on the subway or elevated, and possibly more. The Brooklyn Bridge has affordod a demonstration of this fact, In tho operation over the slnglo set of elevated tracks of many lines of Brooklyn trains. Bridge and loop Inter-related. It can be readily seen that tho operation of tho subway loop in Manhattan Is closely related to tho transit arrangements to bo made for the Manhattan Bridge, and that nelthor can bo assured of success unless some arrangement by which they shall bo used Jointly is carried into effect. Tho completion of the Brooklyn por THE SUBWAY LOOP ABOUT 300 mi nn I mm rJf 1 ten I I lllll'' FEET SOUTH OF GRAND STREET.

A COMPLETED SECTION OF THE CENTRE STREET LOOP OF GRAND STREET. ABOUT 300 FEET NORTH.