918 Transactions of the American Institute. 



The elevated way can be completed from Harlem along the east .side 

 of the city to the battery, and thence upon the west side and along 

 Tenth avenue to Manhattanville, within two years. Laborers can 

 work at many parts of the road without obstructing each other, and 

 a large portion can be finished in one season after contracts for the 

 iron work are concluded. It may be utilized from point to point as 

 rapidly as completed. 



A net- work of these roads could be built up and down each avenue 

 along the whole extent of Manhattan Island for a less sum than will 

 be required for a single tunnel. 



On this plan there will arise no blockading of streets, no change 

 of grade, no displacement of sewers, no interference with gas or 

 Croton pipes, no removal of foundations, no encroachment upon vaults, 

 no blasting of rocks, no undermining or demolishing of buildings, 

 and but little removal of pavements and excavation of earth. 



The excavations made for the London tunnels were ninety-four 

 feet in width by twenty-two feet in depth. "Whole blocks of buildings 

 were undermined, and, in many cases, the Metropolitan Railway Com- 

 pany were compelled to purchase the property or pay heavy damages. 



For such a roadway in New York, let any person undertake to 

 picture in imagination the work of cutting this great chasm, of 

 laying the walls and arches of solid masonry, of replacing all the 

 sewers, gas and water pipes, and the repaving of the surface street- 

 ways, and he will scarcely approach the reality. 



Travel by street cars in this city has quadrupled in ten years. The 

 total number of fares collected in the year 1867 was over 93,000,000. 

 In 1868 it will exceed 100,000,000. With adequate facilities, by the 

 year 1876, the centennial anniversary of our national independence, 

 the number will reach 200,000,000. 



And how are all these to be accommodated? Something must be 

 done now. How many men believe that an underground road will 

 be built in ten years ? Or who believes it can be done in five years ? 

 Meanwhile, elevated railways may have sei'ved the pressing demand 

 for city travel, and have declared ten or twenty -semi-annual dividends. 



The surface roads fail to accommodate this vast increase of travel. 

 Public convenience csmnot permit many other tracks to be laid along 

 the avenues. 



Before resorting to more extreme and expensive measures, will it 

 not be a wiser plan to make available the open and unobstructed 

 ways above us \ 



