I.

The speed which is maintained on our railways in passing through rural districts is generally checked the moment a dense population is reached, and within our large towns the chief advantage of this great improvement upon older methods of traveling is in a great degree lost. Where, as is the case with New York, the distance between the business centre and the residence centre is great, the deprivation is a serious one, and the demand that it should be obviated has long been pressing.

The reason for the diminution of speed on entering a town lies in the fact that the long-established plan of laying out towns is not adapted to the conditions essential to rapid movement, having been devised before the necessity for it was felt, and indeed before the means of accomplishing it had been invented. Now that its accomplishment has been proved to be mechanically practicable and its necessity is recognized, it would be unpardonable, in devising plans for laying out a large territory for the accommodation of a more or less dense population, not to provide for it in advance.

II.

In the existing condition of the mechanical appliances for travel at high speed it can only be accomplished by the use of heavy trains of vehicles moving on rigid lines with light gradients. For safety such lines must be so located that pedestrians and vehicles adapted to use on ordinary roads can by no possibility encounter the trains. The routes selected must, therefore, at all points of contact with common roads, be either above or below their grades. Any plan which involves adherence throughout the entire route to an invariable type of construction, whether elevated or depressed, is inconsistent with economy in any region like new wards, the topography of which is very uneven.

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The conditions to be fulfilled are best found in a road running either along a hillside, in a narrow valley, or on a narrow ridge, in such a manner that intersecting streets may be carried either over or under it, as local convenience may dictate, with moderate expense.

III.

It has hitherto been customary in laying out routes for railways to disregard the requirements of ordinary travel and the existing and future division of property. It has, on the other hand, been usual, in dividing property by common streets, to pay no attention to the possible introduction of railway transit.

As a result of these customs, difficulty is now encountered on New York Island in arranging rapid transit routes, and in the suburban wards in obtaining safe and convenient roads adjoining and crossing existing railroads. Inasmuch as steam roads admit of less flexibility of line and grade than common roads, the determination of their location should in a plan aiming to combine the two systems satisfactorily, precede the establishment of the complete subdivision of the property, but the practicability of a proper subdivision must always be kept in view. The construction of a system devised to combine the two undoubtedly involves more expense for each, considered by itself, than if the combination could be avoided, but not so great expense or injury as the adjusting of one to the cheapest location of the other.

IV.

The experience of the last twenty-five years has demonstrated that the chief obstacle to the accomplishment of speedy communication between distant points in New York City, is the difficulty of obtaining the right of way for steam roads.

There are three methods possible for acquiring the land needed:

1st.   It may be purchased by the corporation which is to furnish the means of transportation.

2d.   The right of way over a highway already devoted to the public uses may be granted to such corporation.

3d.   A new route to be used exclusively for the purpose may be provided at the public expense.

Where the transporting corporation purchases the land, the whole burden falls on the travelers, who are forced to pay in fares the interest on the purchase money, as well as on the cost of construction.

Capitalists object to this method, from a conviction that it will oblige the imposition of so high a rate of fare as to repel, rather than invite travel; or if low fares are established by legislation, that the result will be a loss to the management.

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Where a street is taken which has been already acquired by the public for ordinary traffic and for access to the property fronting on it, the burden falls partly on the travelers, who pay the interest on the cost of construction, receiving an equivalent however for their money, and partly on the owners of such property as is injured, who receive no equivalent.

This method is objected to by owners of property, on the ground that it imposes the cost of the right of way on them, not indeed directly as an actual pecuniary disbursement, but indirectly, through the depreciation of the value of their property, and the diminution of their business resulting from the presence in the street of an obstruction to ordinary traffic.

Where a new route is furnished by the public, part of the burden is borne by the travelers, as in the other cases, and the rest by the property which is benefited by the facilities for travel, which includes alike the business centres and the remote residence districts.

By this method, the injury to property is reduced to a minimum, and the burden is distributed equitably among the persons who are benefited.

V.

In accordance with the considerations thus presented, the plan now submitted contemplates the laying out of a system of roads on such routes and with such grades that their use can be restricted to steam travel, that they will afford moderately direct communication between the desired points, will be easily accessible from all points which they do not directly touch, will nowhere cross ordinary high ways at the same level, and will not as a rule interfere with satisfactory divisions of property.

In the arrangement of the routes the following principles have been kept in view.

(1.)   The crossings of the Harlem River must be as few as possible.

(This is alike desirable whether such crossings are by bridge or by tunnel; if by the former it is important that navigation should be as unobstructed as practicable, if by the latter the expense of many crossings would be too great.)

(2.)   All crossings of the river must be at such points that connection can be easily had with lines on New York Island.

(3.)   Lines must be so laid out that trains passing from the city through one district may return by a loop or circuit through another.

(This not only gives to the residents of each of the districts the advantage of communication between the two, but also gives them, with the same number of trains, more frequent opportunities to reach the business centre than they would have with single lines.)

(4.)   While every opportunity must be afforded to existing lines of trunk freight and passenger railroads to co-operate in the local passenger [309]

Plan for local steam transit routes Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards, New-York City, March 20, 1877

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VI.

With reference to the crossing of the Harlem River, the following considerations are presented:

There are but two existing railroad crossings of the river. The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad enters on New York island by a bridge at Spuyten Duyvil, and the extension of the same road by the Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris branch crosses at Fourth Avenue by the bridge of the Harlem Railroad, which is also used by the New Haven Railroad.

The Rapid Transit Commissioners, in 1875, authorized a crossing of the river at First Avenue, to connect with the Portchester branch of the New Haven Railroad, and another near the High Bridge, to connect with the partially constructed New York & Boston Railroad.

Both of these lines are so situated as to render it very unlikely that any crossing will be constructed upon them for many years to come, if at all.

As regards the first, a bridge would cause too great obstruction to navigation at a point which is now the centre of a considerable water traffic, and a tunnel is not likely to be built upon it as long as it is possible, within a mile, to construct, at one-tenth of the cost, a bridge which will not very seriously interfere with the interests of commerce.

As regards a crossing near the High Bridge, the authorized approach on the Manhattan shore passes for more than a mile along the base of a precipitous hill, which can never have a sufficient population to support a local road, and from the crossing, when made, extensions of the road can be made with advantage in only one direction.

A bridge from One hundred and forty-fifth Street, on the south side of the river, connecting with the loop line authorized by the Rapid Transit Commission, along the exterior street, and crossing to One hundred and forty-ninth Street, on the north side, will be open to neither of these objections. It will afford all the facilities for crossing which will be needed, for several years at least, and will be at such distance from any other bridge that little inconvenience will occur to navigation, even after the projected improvement of the Harlem River is made.

VII.

In determining the arrangements which should be provided for steam transit after crossing the river, existing railroads must be taken into consideration.

Along the Hudson River the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad affords facilities for travel; along the Harlem River runs the Spuyten [311] Duyvil & Port Morris Railroad; in the Mill Brook Valley the Harlem River Railroad furnishes accommodation; and further to the eastward the Portchester Branch Railroad has an opportunity for building up a large local travel as far north as West Farms Village.

Of these the Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris branch, in connection with the Hudson River Railroad, is the only one which at all supplies the desideratum of a circuit or loop line. It is defective, in that its termini lie on opposite sides of the city, and too far north.

The other lines mentioned must always remain pre-eminently routes of through travel, and as such their managers cannot be expected to give the attention to local convenience which the interests of the city will demand.

Being, nevertheless, too important to be overlooked in any comprehensive scheme, they may be considered available as links of a system as yet incomplete, and opportunity must be given them for combining with other lines.

The three main divisions of the territory which are as yet wholly unprovided with facilities for access to old New York, are the valley lying east of the Spuyten Duyvil Promontory and extending to Yonkers, the Jerome Avenue Valley, and the Southern Boulevard District.

During most of the year, the pleasure and comfort of water travel over the route by steamboat from Harlem to the eastern lower portion of the city will always attract a large passenger traffic. It is essential, therefore, that provision should be made for the delivery of passengers from local railroads at the point now occupied by the terminus of the Portchester road, situated at the head of unobstructed navigation.

VIII.

The plans submitted herewith exhibit the following main features:

(a.)   A central crossing of the Harlem River between Fifth and Sixth avenues at a point about equidistant from the two authorized routes on New York Island, running parallel to its axis.

(b.)   A main circuit line up the Jerome Avenue Valley to Jerome Park, thence crossing to the Harlem Railroad, by the route of the Jerome Park Branch Railroad, and following a route generally parallel to that of the Southern Boulevard to the Boston Road, thence down the Bound Brook Valley to the Westchester Road, thence to the Port Morris branch, at St. Mary’s Park, and thence, crossing North New York, between One hundred and forty-fourth and One hundred and forty-fifth Streets, over the Harlem Railroad, and through Buena Ridge to the bridge at One hundred and forty-ninth Street.

(c.)   A loop line, connecting with the main circuit and with the Port Morris Branch Railroad at St. Mary’s Park and passing through the Notch at One hundred and forty-first Street, and southerly between St. Ann’s and [312] Brook Avenues, to a connection with the Portchester Depot, and thence, along the river, to the crossing at One hundred and forty-ninth Street.

(d.)   A loop line, connecting with the main circuit at Mount Eden, and following the Valley of the Ice Pond Brook, passing under the Harlem Railroad at One hundred and fifty-fourth Street, and thence, between Morris and College Avenues, to line (c), near the Portchester Depot.

(e.)   A line, connecting the main circuit and the Portchester Railroad, near Fox’s Corners.

(f/)   A loop line via the Port Morris Branch Railroad.

(g.)   A line from Kingsbridge to Ludlow’s Dock and Yonkers, by way of the Broadway Valley.

(h.)   A route from High Bridge to Yonkers, up the valley of Tibbett’s Brook, being an amendment of the route of the partly-built New York, Boston & Montreal Railroad.

All of the above described routes are so located as to be intermediate between streets intended for ordinary travel, and all such streets will cross them, either over or under the grade.

The maximum gradient will be 80 feet to a mile, and the minimum radius of curvature 521 feet. These extremes are closely approached but in a few instances.