HOUSE No. 533 Cfte Commontuealtj) of cpassacftusetts. To the Honorable Senate and the House of Representative Chapter 108 of the Resolves of 1911 reads as follows Resolve to provide for an Investigation as to Certain Improve- ments of the Subway and Transportation System in the City of Boston. Resolved, That the board of railroad commissioners and the Boston transit commission, sitting jointly, be instructed to consider the matters contained in the following bills and resolve now pending, namely, house bill, No. 149, house bill, No. 1384, house bill, No. 1385, and resolve, house, No. 1110. The said joint board shall investigate and determine whether it is for the public interest, and expedient, to enact any or all of the legislation prayed for in the petitions accompanying the said bills and resolve; and if the board recommends any legislation it shall submit the draft of an act or acts embodying the same. The said joint board shall report to the next general court on or before the second Saturday in January, and may expend for the purposes of this resolve such sums of money, to be paid out of the treasury of the commonwealth, as may be necessary, and as shall be approved by the governor and council. [Ap- proved June 22, 1911. Pursuant to this legislative reference the Board of Railroad Commissioners and the Boston Transit Commission, sitting jointly, duly organized, gave hearings, and proceeded in the investigation as directed, and the Joint Board now makes report thereon. House Bill No. 149 House Bill No. 149 may be summarized as follows: Section 1 requires the Transit Commission to remove the three structures in Scollay Square and Court Street covering the en- 9 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS. [Jan. trances to and exits from the Tremont Street subway and the East Boston tunnel. Section 2 authorizes the commission to make other entrances and exits to take the places of those discontinued and, if the existing entrances and exits are continued, limits the dimensions of the coverings thereof. It also provides that the expense of the removal of the present structures and the substitution of new entrances and exits is to be paid by the city. Section 3 authorizes the commission to enter into contracts and incur indebtedness in the name of the citv. Section 4 contains thd usual provision for keeping the streets open for traffic during construction. Section 5 authorizes the commission to acquire for the city by purchase or otherwise any land or easements or rights therein deemed necessary. Section 6 contains the usual provision as to awards of damages. Section 7 is the usual provision as to removal or relocation of tracks, pipes, etc. Section 8 provides that “the commission may make with the Boston Elevated Railway Company . such changes as are necessary in existing contracts or leases between the city and the company in order to give the company the same rights in the new entrances and exits herein provided for as it has in the existing structures.” The remaining sections may provide for issuing bonds, the method of doing the work in case the term of the commission ex- pires, and for the enforcement of the act. In general it may be said that the purpose of the bill is to pro- vide for the removal of the present entrance and exit structures in Scollay Square and substitute others therefor, or to reduce the size of these structures. Two of these were constructed as part of the Tremont Street subway. The rental for this subway paid to the city by the Boston Elevated Railway Company is a per- centage, now 4| per annum and later to be 4j upon the cost. The other structure was built exclusively for use as an exit from the East Boston tunnel and is included in the lease of that tunnel to the company. The cost thereof does not now, but will after the 10th of June, 1922, affect the amount of the rental to be paid by the company. 1912.] HOUSE — No. 533. 3 No change can be made in the structures nor any increase of rental based on the cost thereof without first obtaining the con- sent of the company. It is also to be noted that, after the passage of resolve 108, referring this bill to this Joint Board, the Legislature on July 20, 1911, passed an act providing for the construction of the Boylston Street subway, the Dorchester tunnel, and an extension of the East Boston tunnel under Scollay Square and to a point on Cambridge Street. The Transit Commission is at present at work on the plans for this subway, tunnel and extension. As the extension of the tunnel must pass under the Tremont Street sub- way and the present Scollay Square station, it is apparent that the present entrances and exits should not be discontinued nor substitutes therefor be provided until progress has been made in the plans for the extension of the tunnel sufficient to determine definitely what, if any, changes are necessary therein and what additions or substitutions should be made in order to provide suitably for traffic in the tunnel as extended and the connection of the Scollay Square tunnel station with the present Scollay Square subway station and with the surface. The expense of discontinuing the present joint entrance to and exit from the Tremont Street subway and the East Boston tunnel in the middle of the square would be very great, as it would render necessary an entire rearrangement of the Scollay Square station by using the central portion where the platforms now are for the tracks, and the portion where the tracks now are for the plat- forms, and to this would be added the expense of taking for the new entrances and exits private property on each side of the square. The bill provides that if the present entrances and exits are to be retained the openings shall not exceed certain dimensions speci- fied in the bill. In the opinion of the Joint Board the entrances and exits if limited according to the bill would be inadequate for the proper accommodation of the public. The Joint Board does not recommend the passage of the bill. House Bill No. 1384. House Bill No. 1384 may be summarized as follows Section 1 requires the Boston Elevated Railway Company to 4 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS. [Jan. construct an additional elevated station at the junction of Wash- ington and Castle streets. Section 2 requires the shuttle train now stopping at Beach Street to run to this new elevated station, to be known as Castle Junction. Section 3 permits the city of Boston to provide money for a .uitable westerly approach from the Tremont Street “tunnel” to said Castle Junction station by extending Broadway one blocl Section 4 requires the company to bear a proportionate part of the expenses of such extension. Section 5 authorizes the city of Boston to discontinue the Cove Street bridge and to use such part of the main structure as is available in extending Atlantic Avenue over and to Broadway. Section 6 authorizes the city to remove the Cove Street draw- bridge and use it for a connection form South Boston over Fort Point channel to the South End, the expense to be met from the regular tax levy. It requires the Boston Elevated Railway Com- pany to remove the Dover Street elevated station to the corner of Washington and East Dedham streets, and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company to remove the present South Boston station further south. Section 7 authorizes the city to take by right of eminent domain and provides for the assessment of betterments. Section 8 authorizes the city to issue bonds. Section 9 relates to the powers of the Boston Transit Commi: sion in the premises. Section 10 provides that 5 per cent, of the cost shall be taken annually from the tax levy and accumulated in the sinking fund of the city of Boston This bill requires the Boston Elevated Railway Company to make radical changes in and additions to its system and to expend large sums therefor. The company cannot be compelled by legis- lation to carry out these requirements. (See Statutes of 1897, chapter 500, section 10, and the contracts for the use of the Wash- ington Street tunnel and the extension thereof.) The existence of a public demand therefor was not shown. The bill further authorizes the city of Boston to extend Broad- way, Atlantic Avenue and Dartmouth Street, to discontinue the 1912.1 HOUSE No. Od. 5 Cove Street bridge and to remove the Cove Street drawbridge. So far as known to the Joint Board the city of Boston has not ex- pressed its desire to obtain such authority from the Legislature, nor has it determined that public necessity reasonably requires these changes and the expenditure incidental thereto. The Joint Board does not recommend the passage of the bill House Bill No. 1385. House Bill No. 1385 authorizes the city of Boston to take land by right of eminent domain and to pay therefor by novel methods incompletely described, in order that “transportation may be improved . upon the main thoroughfares of Dorchester dis- trict, Boston,” the method to be “known throughout Massa- chusetts as the Dorchester plan of street widening.” Section 8 provides that the provisions of the bill shall be applied, first, to Norfolk Street Dorchester, and thereafter to other streets in the order named as the demand therefor may be evidenced by public hearings. On Nov. 13, 1911, the city council of Boston passed an order appropriating $150,000 for the widening of Norfolk Street.