TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 24 



THE ELIMINATION OF GRADE-CROSSINGS IN CITIES 



From the city standpoint, the whole territory adjacent to a crossing which 

 has been eliminated by carrying the highway over or under the railroad de- 

 rives a very substantial benefit, although properties in the immediate vicinity 

 may sustain serious damage from the change of grade of the highway. When 

 the grades of streets are radically changed, the damages resulting to owners of 

 private property, not of an industrial character, may be very serious, even 

 assuming that they recover all that is possible by due process of law. 



When tracks or streets are seriously depressed below the existing surface, 

 great expense is caused by the necessity for proper drainage, the lowering of 

 water and gas pipes, electric conduits, etc. On the Pennsylvania Avenue 

 Subway — Reading System — in Philadelphia, where the tracks were depressed 

 below the street surface, the cost of the drainage alone amounted to over 

 $500,000 in a total cost of $5,500,000. 



In the depression of railroads or streets the danger and expense to adjacent 

 buildings caused by excavating below their foundations are serious matters, 

 and in the case of railroads the diflficulty of reestabHshing industrial connections 

 is great and expensive. 



Frequently also the right of way of the railroad is inadequate to either 

 elevate or depress the tracks without incurring greatly increased cost to main- 

 tain travel during the process of reconstruction. In some cases this is a matter 

 that causes much loss of revenue during the time of reconstruction, especially 

 when the time is long. During the time that a street is being depressed the in- 

 convenience and damage to business interests are great and not fully covered 

 by damages recoverable by law. 



From the city standpoint the depression of the tracks is often preferable 

 if it allows the streets to remain in their original elevation, as it causes much less 

 general disfigurement. A subway is preferable for this reason to an elevated, 

 although the cost is always very much greater. Just what method should be 

 adopted must be carefully studied for each individual case and no general rules 

 can be laid down. 



4. LEGISLATION AND DIVISION OF COST 

 No complete compilation has ever been made showing the practice re- 

 quired by the several States where grade-crossing elimination has been carried 

 out. In 1 913 an investigation was made by the St. Louis Public Library 

 Monthly Bulletin for July (Proceedings A. R. E. A., 1915, Part 2, Monographs), 



