Under the River with Horse and Cart 



An ambitious plan to solve New York's 

 ferry congestion by subterranean roadways 



\S a means of relieving the ferry boats 

 r\ that ply between Manhattan Island 

 and the mainland two highway 

 tunnels under the Hudson River, which 

 will serve New York and New Jersey 

 in practically the same way that the 

 Blackwall and Rother- 

 hithe tunnels under the 

 Thames serve the city of 

 London, have been pro- 

 posed by the engineering 

 firm which built the two 

 Pennsylvania railroad 

 tubes and the four Hud- 

 son and Manhattan rail- 

 road tubes. The plans are 

 now being considered by 

 the New York State 

 Bridge and Tunnel Com- 

 mission. 



Despite the increasing 

 number of larger and 

 speedier ferry boats the 

 problem of carrying 

 wagons across New York's 

 waters is no nearer solu- 

 tion than it was years 

 ago. The advent of the 

 automobile has only 

 served to make matters 

 worse, until, at the present 

 time, over-river traffic is 

 in a state of chronic con- 

 gestion. The delays in 

 making deliveries are not 

 only more frequent, but 

 in some cases, particularly 

 at certain times of the 

 year, deliveries can not be made within 

 any stated period at all. The under-river 

 roadways, it is claimed, will eliminate all 

 this. 



A total of nineteen thousand six hundred 

 and sixty vehicles crossed the Hudson 

 River on ferries during the year 1913. Not 

 more than two thousand of these vehicles 

 used the ferries north of Twenty-third 

 street. Most of the traffic is downtown. For 

 this reason the proposed tunnels are to 

 serve the congested district by starting 

 from the New York side at Canal Street, 

 practically given over to vehicular traffic 

 as it is, and will enter New Jersey at 

 Twelfth Street, Jersey City. 



The districts which the proposed 

 tunnels will serve. The total 

 length will be eight thousand 

 three hundred and fifty feet 



The total length of the tunnels will be 

 eight thousand three hundred and fifty 

 feet, and at their lowest point they will be 

 eighty-nine feet below the surface of the 

 Hudson River. The rise to the surface on 

 the Manhattan side will be on a grade of 

 3.7 per cent and the grade 

 on the New Jersey side 

 will be 3.0 per cent. The 

 grades below the river will 

 be 0.5 and i per cent. 



One tunnel will be for 

 eastbound traffic and the 

 other for westbound. The 

 roadways will be approxi- 

 mately seventeen feet in 

 width. The engineers 

 figure that the two tun- 

 nels will have a capacity 

 of five million vehicles a 

 year. The Blackwall and 

 Rotherhithe tunnels, each 

 consisting of a single tube 

 and providing for traffic 

 in both directions in one 

 tunnel, accommodated al- 

 most one million vehicles 

 in 1913, including auto- 

 mobiles. There are tun- 

 nels in Glasgow and Ham- 

 burg with separate tubes 

 for the traffic in each 

 direction. 



As will be seen in the 

 illustration on the next 

 page a ventilating duct of 

 large capacity is provided 

 beneath the roadway, with 

 frequent openings leading to it. The 

 engineers claim that the gases of com- 

 bustion carried into the tunnel by the great 

 variety of products transported from one 

 side to the other, will settle to the floor 

 and be drawn into the main ventilating 

 conduit and so out of the tunnel. Whether 

 this method of purifying the air will be 

 finally carried out or not remains to be 

 seen. 



Powerful fans have also been suggested 

 as the simplest means to keep the air pure. 

 Another feature may include the provision 

 of elevator shafts connecting the tunnels 

 with the waterfront in addition to the 

 inclined approaches. 



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