Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 96, no. 2475: Articles]: August 21, 1915

Text version:

REAL ESTATE AND NEW YORK, AUGUST 21, 1915 ■llllllllllllllilllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllH PROGRESS ON QUEENS PLAZA STATION ■ I Seventy-five Per Cent Completed —Trains Will Radiate from I Here to All Parts of the Borough—Subway Contracts Held Up 1 THE latest vie-w of the Queensboro Plaza Station, Long Island City, the big central transfer station from which the transportation lines now being con¬ structed will radiate in four directions over the Borough of Queens has been received from the Public Service Com¬ mission, and shows the station as it will appear from the offices of the Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens, It is calculated that the entire struc¬ ture, exclusive of station finish work, will be completed by October 7th. Nearly 75 per cent, of the work is already done. The Snare & Triest Con¬ struction Co., which is in charge of the to Grand Central station on the present subway will be approximately six min¬ utes, or less than it now takes to go from Borough Hall, Brooklyn, to Park Row, New York. From this point rapid transit lines will radiate in all directions as follows: (1) To the north, a three-track ele¬ vated line through Jackson avenue to Second avenue to Ditmars avenue, As¬ toria, to bs operated jointly by the Inter¬ borough and the Brooklyn Rapid Tran¬ sit Companies. Astoria will be only 13 minutes from Grand Central Station, (2) To the east, across Diagonal street and over the Sunnyside Yards to Thomson avenue and Greenpoint ave- the Plaza, between the station and Jack¬ son avenue, the majority of the plans have already been approved, so that the steel can be ordered. For the structure along the Diagonal street viaduct over Sunnyside yard, connecting the Plaza with Section 3 of Routes Nos. 36 and 37, a portion of the shop drawings have been sent in for approval during the past two weeks. The steel work for the Plaza station is completed, so that the station finish work can be undertaken as soon as the concrete covering the station is poured. This will enable the station finish work and the erection of steel across Sunny¬ side yard to proceed concurrently. It is work, has employed on the a/erage of 114 men daily. The cost of the work will be $884,859. The picture accompanying above shows the connection from the station to the roadway of the bridge which was proposed for the operation of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit subway trains of the Broadway-59th street line. Since the sketch was made, however, the Public Service Commission and the Board of Estimate have decided on the use of tunnels under the East River just north of the Queensboro Bridge, so that in the final construction of the station this connection with the bridge roadway will be changed to connect with the tunnels. The station on the Bridge Plaza will be 480 feet long, with two levels, each having four tracks, or eight tracks i:t all. The lower level of the statiun will be for trains to Manhattan, while the upper level will be for trains to Astoria, Corona and to Brooklyn. The north platforms on both decks will be for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit train?, while the south platforms on both sides will be for tlic Queensboro subway and Second avenue trains of the Interborough. The station will have entrances on North and South Jane streets, at Crescent and Prospect streets. The entrances will lead to a mezzanine floor and al" ove will be the two levels of the station, all trains on the same deck going in the same direction. The express running time from this station through the Queemboro subway nue to Woodside, and Roosevelt avenue to Elmhurst and Corona, a three-track line, to be operated jointly by the Inter¬ borough and the Brookyn Rapid Transit Companies. This line will be continued out Roosevelt avenue from Corona into Flushing and Bayside. Corona and Elm¬ hurst will be 15 to 18 minutes from Grand Central station. (3) To the south will be the extension of the Queensboro subway from its mouth at Van Alst and 4th street, to be operated by the Interborough in con¬ nection with the present and proposed subways in Manhattan. Also the pro¬ posed extension of the elevated lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co., known as the Queensboro Bridge-Crosstown line, will run southward from the Bridge Plaza, connecting with all the elevated lines in Brooklyn, and giving a direct north and south route to Coney Island. (4) To the west, a cross the East River into Manhattan, will operate the trains of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, connecting with the 59th street. Seventh avenue and Broadway subways, and also the extension of the Second avenue ele¬ vated line of the Interborough. Progress on the Queens Plaza Station. Shop drawings for the station on the Queensboro Bridge Plaza have all been cl-iecked and filed and the steel erected. On Jackson avenue, from the Plaza to Section 2 of Routes Nos. 36 and 37. at Beebe and Second avenue, shop draw¬ ings have all been approved and the steel fabricated. At the easterly end of not anticipated that there will be any delay in operation either to Astoria or Corona on account of the steel work. Controversy Over Contracts. All the rapid transit construction con¬ tracts prepared by the Commission since September, 1910, have been unit price contracts. The various items of work are set forth in great detail, and bids are received on from probably 150 to 200 items entering into the work. In a work so complicated as rapid transit railroad construction in city streets it is impossible to forecast every item that may enter into the work. All the unit price contracts of the commission since the change from lump sum to unit prices have contained a pro¬ vision, known as Article XII, provid¬ ing that if any work was not suscepti¬ ble of classification that it should be done and paid for at cost plus 10 per cent. In view of the great number of unit prices and the fact that the great bulk of the work is comprised in the units of excavation, steel and concrete, .'Krticle XII is practically restricted to a very small amount of incidental work. With two years' experience under the unit price contracts it was found that the practical working of Article XII could be greatly improved if an alter¬ native method was allowed, whereby the chief engineer, with the approval of the commission, could fix unit or lump sum prices for incidental work as it arose in lieu of the percentage plan. One of (Continued on Page 311.)