TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER 

 30 



THE ELIMINATION OF GRADE-CROSSINGS IN CITIES 



railroad was in the hands of receivers, and an agreement was made by which the 

 city was to raise the necessary funds by issuing bonds and care for the work of 

 construction and the railroad was to reimburse the city for its share of the cost 

 in regular instalments. The railroad was sold under foreclosure proceedings 

 in 1896, and the new railway company assumed the obligation of the receivers. 

 2nd. On the Ninth Street Elevated twenty-nine grade-crossings were 

 eliminated, some of them of a very dangerous character. The work covered a 

 distance of 3.7 miles and consisted of elevated tracks carried by masonry walls 

 and earth fill between the streets and steel bridges crossing them. There was 

 also about three-fifths of a mile of elevated steel viaduct over the bed of Ninth 

 Street, allowing the use of the street beneath. All the yards of the railroad 

 were elevated. Travel was maintained at all times during construction by 

 building one half at a time. The estimated cost of the work was $7,659,740, 

 and the actual cost, including consequential damages, was about $7,000,000. 

 This represents a cost of $1,891,900 per mile of structure. Generally there were 

 four tracks elevated. Part of the work was for five tracks. The city and the 

 railroad divided the cost of all construction work and consequential damages 

 necessary to provide equal accommodations to those originally existing. The 

 railroad paid for all betterments. The city issued bonds to pay for its share 

 of the work. The railroad paid its share out of its earnings. All work affect- 

 ing the operation of the railroad was done under contracts prepared and exe- 

 cuted by the railroad after due approval by the city. All work in the streets 

 was contracted for by the city after proper approval by the railroad. The 

 work was done under an ordinance of councils dated October 13, 1906, which 

 authorized the city and the railroad to enter into an agreement. The time 

 consumed in construction was a Httle over four years. 



8. CONCLUSION 



There can be no argument against the advisabiHty of the elimination of 

 grade-crossings in cities. Such work removes a condition which is objection- 

 able from every standpoint. They are dangerous to travel of every kind. 



Before any crossing or sequence of crossings is eliminated, care should be 

 taken to insure their relative importance compared with others. 



The rapidity of such elimination should be determined both by the city 

 and the railroad after careful consideration of their respective financial condi- 

 tions. The city should consider how much it can properly spend in any 



