CHAPTER XIII.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF STREET-CAR TRACKS IN PAVED STREETS AND

ROADWAYS.

THE problem of how to construct street-car tracks in the best manner in paved streets has been troubling engineers in charge of pavement construction for many years. In the early days of street-railways, when the streets were paved with cobblestones and when street-cars were small and drawn by horses at a speed of five or six miles an hour, this question was not so important. But in the present time of asphalt and other improved pavements, of rubber tires, bicycles and automobiles, and with cars weighing from 10 to 12 tons propelled by electricity along our streets at a speed of from eight to fifteen miles per hour, the importance of good and smooth track-construction, both to the general public and to the street-car company, can hardly be overestimated.

There is no doubt that the street-car track is detrimental to any pavement, but it is a necessary evil, for it is well recognized at the present time that no one thing tends to develop and build up a city as does a good system of street-cars.

The problem of the construction of street-car tracks is very different from that of the ordinary steam-railways. The steamcars run on their own right of way, making stops only at long intervals, and the tracks can be constructed in such a manner as will give the best results as regards economy of construction and maintenance, with no regard for the wishes of others, except at street or road crossings.

Street-cars, however, run through public highways which are being used constantly by vehicles, and crossed often by pedestrians, and their construction must be such as will not only accommodate

their own cars, but also interfere as little as possible with the ordinary vehicular traffic of the street.

It must be remembered, however, in this connection that there are two travelling publics, the one in the cars and the other using private vehicles, and while the former uses the vehicles of the corporations, operated in a public thoroughfare, any action which tends to discommode or interfere unnecessarily with the action of the cars must discommode to a great extent a very large proportion of the travelling public. Probably 40 per cent of all the business men in the average American city of more than 100,000 inhabitants depend more or less upon the street-cars for their convenience every day.

The authorities of street-railways, and the cities in which they are operated, generally differ considerably in their ideas of what is the proper construction for the tracks. The street-car companies are interested only to perform their work economically. A construction that will allow their rolling-stock to be operated with the least amount of wear and tear and will cost the least for original construction, as well as maintenance, is what they desire. On the other hand, the city authorities are not interested to any great extent, either in the cost of construction or maintenance. They wish a construction that can be carried out with little obstruction to the general travel of the street, will require but little interference with the pavement for maintenance and repairs, and present little obstruction to the general traffic.

In early track-construction the railway companies sometimes sought to lay a rail that would be very obstructive to travel. When a track is such that vehicles seek it in preference to the street, the operation of the street-cars is interfered with, and the companies seek every means to prevent this.

With the rough stone pavements of twenty-five years ago, the special form of the rail added very little to the general roughness of the street, but railway companies must recognize at the present time that smooth and improved pavements have come to stay, and that they must adopt a method of track construction that will conform to these pavements.

The ideal construction seems to be one in which the track is a part of the pavement itself, and not a separate and definite part

of the work, and the track and pavement should be studied together as one whole. The time of probable renewal of each part should be taken into consideration, and the design of each made so as best to accommodate these renewals. This, however, is not very often practicable, from the fact that it very seldom happens that a pavement and a railway-track are constructed at the same time, so that certain modifications or concessions can be agreed upon and the best results for both obtained.

The question should be taken up by the railway and city authorities conjointly, as if both were owned and were to be operated by one interest; and after the details which would be best under this arrangement were determined upon, general modifications could be made if desired, so that the interest of either party would not suffer.

Street-railway companies, having operated in public highways long a time, with an inexpensive construction determined upon by themselves, find it very hard at times to meet the requirements of modern pavements and the present city officials, but they soon find that it is better economy as well as better policy to adopt a construction that will be both durable and satisfactory to the municipal authorities.

The question as to the proper remuneration to be made to municipalities for the use of its highways for the operation of street-cars has never been definitely settled. In some cities it is arrived at by the company's paying a certain amount to the city, sometimes based upon its receipts, the number of passengers carried, or sometimes a lump sum determined upon in advance.

In some cities, also, the cost of paving is settled in much the same way; but, as a rule, the actual amount of the street to be cared for by the railway company is defined either in its charter or by special legislation. No attempt will be made in this connection. to treat the question of value from the franchise standpoint, but simply with reference to the care of the pavement.

In 1854 an Act was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature incorporating the Dorchester Avenue Railway Co. and requiring it to keep in repair the whole of the bed of any road in the town of Dorchester in which it might lay tracks. In the following year, however, this Act was amended by a repeal of this clause and the

substitution of a provision requiring only that part of the road occupied by the tracks to be kept in repair, and defining that portion" to be the space between the rails and so much on each side thereof as shall be within a perpendicular let fall from the extreme width of any car or carriage used thereon, being the space from which public travel is excluded during the passing of said car or carriage."

In Baltimore, Md., the street-car companies pave and keep in repair the space between their tracks, and 2 feet on each side.

In Buffalo, N. Y., different conditions exist in regard to the paving requirements by the different companies, but in general the maintenance of the street between the tracks and 2 feet outside is required.

Although in some locations no paving at all is required from the street-car companies, in New York a bill was passed in 1895 which provided that one-fourth of the cost of repaving any street in Brooklyn in which was operated a street-railway should be assessed against the company owning such track. A great many streets were paved under this law, but at the present time no tax has been collected from the street-car companies. This question, however, will probably be settled by a general New York statute which will be referred to later on.

In Chicago, Ill., the conditions under which the companies now operate require that they pave and maintain 16 feet in width of the street in case of double tracks and 8 feet in the case of single tracks, with a pavement of as good quality as that of the rest of the street.

In Detroit, Mich., the railway company pays no special tax on the gross earnings, is required to do no paving either between its tracks or other part of the street in which they are located, is not required to make pavement repairs if the streets are disturbed for railroad repair work, and the concrete base on which its tracks are laid is put down by the city.

In Indianapolis, Ind., a readjustment of the terms of the orig inal franchise was made in 1878, when a provision requiring the road to repave between its tracks was changed so as to read "repair between its tracks." On account of this action there is considerable feeling between the taxpayers and the railway company.

In New York City it is held that the different companies are bound by Chapter 676 in Laws of 1892, a portion of which reads as follows:

"Every street-railroad, so long as it shall continue to use any of its tracks in any street, avenue, or public place in any city or village, shall pave and keep in permanent repair that portion of such street, avenue, or public place between its tracks or rails of its tracks, and two feet in width outside of its tracks, under the supervision of the proper local. authorities, and whenever required by them to do so, and in such manner as they may prescribe. In the case of neglect of any corporation to make these pavements or repairs after the expiration of thirty days' notice to do so, the local authorities may make same at the expense of such corporation."

The street-car companies, however, have not always lived up to this requirement, and it was stated in a paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers in December, 1896, that bills aggregating more than $700,000 had accumulated against surface railways on Manhattan Island from 1889 to 1895 inclusive.

The street-car companies in the city of Philadelphia have probably expended more money for pavements in city streets than any other city in the world. In 1892 the street-railways changed their power from horses to electricity, and an agreement was entered into between the companies and the city authorities by which the roads agreed to pave and maintain the streets through which they operated, from curb to curb. The streets of Philadelphia being so narrow that in most cases only one track is operated for each street, a large amount of street mileage is occupied by the streetcar companies. It is said that on January 1, 1898, there had been expended by the different companies for street pavement since 1892, when the above agreement was entered into, a sum amounting to about $12,000,000.

In Rochester, N. Y., the railway company accepted the provisions of the statute previously referred to as far as repairs to the pavement were concerned, but it did not admit its obligation in regard to new pavements. In a test case brought to settle this point, the two following questions were asked:

"Are the abutting owners on Lyell Avenue liable for the cost