The Crittenden Automotive Library

DEFENDS BRIDGE PLANS.

Publication: The New York Times
Date: 31 December 1924

Mills Explains Move to Aid Traffic in Williamsburg Structure.

William Wirt Mills, Commissioner of Plant and Structures, replied yesterday to the Broadway Merchants' Association of Brooklyn, which opposed his plans to obtain additional roadway space on the Williamsburg Bridge.

“The vehicle traffic in this bridge,” Commissioner Mills said, “now exceeds the capacity of the two vehicle roadways. It is necessary, therefore, to improve the bridge by constructing two additional roadways, one eastbound and the other westbound.

“It is waste of space and of city property to continue to maintain a space 22 feet wide and the length of the Williamsburg Bridge for the operation of the new trolley cars of the Third Avenue system when we can accomodate the passengers who use these cars on the municipal cars crossing the bridge.

“It would be extremely bad management to keep this bridge unequal to its vehicle traffic, to keep its roadways congested and to have traffic continually delayed by this congestion when we can make this great bridge equal to its traffic by building additional roadways.”