The New York Rapid-transit Subway

THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. Sect. I.—MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS. 25 February, 1908. Sir WILLIAM MATTHEWS, K.C.M.G., President, in the Chair. (Paper No. 3739.) “ The New York Rapid-Transit Subway." By William Barclay PARSONS, M. Inst. C.E. The recent report of the Royal Commission on London Traffic made certain recommendations in regard to underground railways close to the surface of the street, to which the general term of “Subway” has come to be applied, as distinguished from the familiar London “ Tube.” In this connection it may be of interest to The Institution to have placed before it a description of the New York Subway, especially as that subway is distinguished by certain peculiar features, such as extreme shallowness of cover, radical variation in the type of structure according to local requirements, a double service of high and low speeds, very heavy traffic, and control by a public com- mission. The City of New York is divided politically into five boroughs whose populations and areas are :— Table I. Population. Area. Manhattan . . . 2,174,335 21’93 square miles. Bronx . . 290,097 40’65„ Brooklyn . . 1,404,569 77’62 „„ Queens . . . 209,686 129’50 „„ Richmond . . 74,173 57’19 „„ Total. . . 4,152,860 326’89 „„ Before the consolidation of New York, Brooklyn, and the out- lying districts into one city, in 1897, New York consisted of what B 2