Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1914 — NEW YORK STREETS [ARTICLE]

NEW YORK STREETS

City's Highways Would Reach to ~ San Francisco.

All Within 327 Square Mile*—How Conditions of Construction and Upkeep Have Changed With Continually Changing of Traffic.

New York. —If the streets of New York city' were placed end to end, they would make a thoroughfare nearly 50 feet widu all the-way to San Francisco. The population of the city would form a constant line upon each sidewalk of persons six feet apart; and at the busiest portions of this i ranscontlnental highway during ten hours of the day, 1,400 vehicles would these 2,677 miles of streets are comprised within an area„of 327 square miles, of which, accordingly, they constitute one-twelfth. These are among the facts assembled in an article by Frederick F. Bachley in the National Municipal Review. In New- York the borough president has control of the streets in his borough, with power to appoint and dismiss a commissioner of public works. For local purposes, the city Is divided also into 25 districts, in each of which Is a local board, composed of the aldermen from the/ district and the borough president. The board has power to initiate proceedings to open, close, extend and pave the streets in its district. No resolution is valid without the approval of the borough president. There are 460 miles of streets In Manhattan, and all of these are paved with the exception of about 17 miles in the northern part, in the section that is built up since the completion of the subway. When the present ad ministration came into power four years ago, complaints about the streets were loud and numerous, particularly with respect to the sheet asphalt pavement Not oiiiy was Hie surface of these pavements in bad condition. but the foundations were defective. To make the matter as bad as possible, there were more miles of this type of pavement In the borough than any other. As, consequently, it formed the principal thoroughfares of Manhattan, the breaks, hollows and uneven surfaces in it were painfully apparent.' One for this unfortunate state of things was the increase that had taken place In the weight of the average load since the pavements had been laid. Another was the larger number of motor cars and trucks, with their tendency to slip, and so to scoop out the pavement. - For some mysterious reason, which the reader can conjecture as well as any one, this inexcusable faulty method of construction was continued even after the time when the new .kind of vehicles and greater loads made sound foundations essential. Thirty miles of pavement with poor foundations were laid in 1903, and it was not until thrfee years later that the practice of laying sound concrete foundations became general in the borough. Because of this flimsy construction and the age of the pavements, tbe cost of upkeep had become enormous. It soon appeared that tbe greater part of tbe'pavement in tbe borough would have to be renewed. Previous to 1910 about $1,000,000 a year had been spent In paving. In 1911 this amount was raised to 11.400.000, and in 1912 to $3.500,000 * As a result, 50 miles o/atreets were laid last year, making a total of 190 miles in three years, or nearly a quarter of the entire length of the pavement in Manhattan. There is no economy in repairing streets after they get into bad condition. It Ib better to repave thejn. Pursuance of this policy reduced the number of square yards of roadway done in 1912 from the 478,000 of 1911 to 363,000. And despite the steadily rising prices charged by the aspbalt companies this work was lone at mb average cost of 13 cents a «euar* yard. Instead of the 17 ceata

which it cost in 1911. The most interesting outcome of the city’s fight with These'companies, however, la the project for a municipal asphalt plant.