January 1, 1922, the work of the Port Authority has been practically continuous.

In addition to the many stated meetings of the Commissioners there have been innumerable staff conferences, meetings with the Technical Advisory Board, with representatives of the railroads, steamship, lighterage, towing, warehouse and trucking interests; with the Advisory Council of Chambers of Commerce and the Advisory Council on Education; with the officials of many of the municipalities within the district; with the large specialized trade organizations and interests, such as grain and flour, produce and fruit, live stock, dressed meats and poultry, milk and dairy, wholesale grocers, sugar. fish, petroleum and coal; with department stores; the Shippers' Conference, the United States Shipping Board, the Interstate Commerce Commissioners, the Transit Commsion, and express company officials.

The Commissioners and the taff have made inspections of the whole port, accompanied on occasions by Gov. Nathan L. Miller, members of Congress, members of the Legislatures of both States and by the United States Army engineers having to do with rivers and harbors. Inspections of railroad terminals and operations at classification yards and of express classification stations have been made.

Many public meetings and meetings of scientific and economic societies have been addressed by the Commissioners, counsel and members of the staff. At the request of periodicals and newspapers articles have been written for public information on the subject.

PARTICULARS OF PORT DISTRICT

The Port District contains one hundred and five (105) organized municipalities. It embraces a population of about 8,000,000 people. It is served by twelve trunk line railroads, which bring to and take out of or through the port over 75,000,000 tons of freight per annum. An immense number of foreign and domestic steamships, not less than 8,000 in number, annually bring to or take from the port over 45,000,000 tons of freight per annum. There is an almost incalculable amount of local water-borne traffic within the port. There is the most prodigious manufacturing output in the world within a similar area, with a variety of products and commodities to be handled unprecedented anywhere else. There are over 4,000,000 tons of food stuffs alone annually required by the people of the Port District. WATERWAYS

A very great increase is to be expected in the business carried on the New York State Barge Canal and the many communities along its route and in the West throughout the whole Great Lakes district will have a vital interest in the facilities to be created for transhipment at its seaport

terminus.

The projected canal in New Jersey from the vicinity of South Amboy to the Delaware River, forming a part of the intracoastal waterway between Northern and Southern ports and the Great Lakes, when carried out will bring great additions to the commerce of this port. The cost of terminal handling and transhipment here will have an important influence on the development, efficiency and usefulness of these existing and projected great arteries of commerce.

New York, as a commercial and financial center, whether she would or not, exercises a powerful influence on the business of the whole nation. Prices, which the process of trade establish in this market, have a reflex action up on prices over much of the country. The 8,000,000 people within the Port District have to be housed, clothed, fed, provided with facilities for carrying on their business and deriving their livelihood.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

In the past, provisions for the terminal handling of this

vast commerce have been developed as the pressure of necessity and the expediency of the moment required, without any coordinated plan When terminal facilities at one point became saturated and when new order centers became established, new and additional points for terminals had to De sought often under emergency pressure, at high cost, and without relation or coordination with other units. Under the individual systems of twelve trunk line railroads many such facilities and locations had to be duplicated. This has unavoidably reproduced points of congestion entailing delays and consequent expense. No other port in the world has ever presented problems of such magnitude and complexity and so there were no precedents comparable with this problem in all its aspects. Taken in the aggregate, the whole problem might well be likened to a maze from which it is most difficult, even for those with the widest experience and the most intensive study, and with the application of the best judgment, to find the right way out.

PREVIOUS RESEARCH

The Port Authority started with the advantage of possessing a complete analysis of existing conditions as given in the report of the previous Bi-State Commission. The process of reviewing that analysis with the many interests involved and reaching a consensus of approval of its correctness, took several months' intensive work.

With that foundation established, the Port Authority then proceeded in conjunction with the varicus conferees and in many prolonged conferences, to similarly review and study the physical plans suggested for prompt relief and to promote the fu.ure development and growth of the business of the port.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

It already is clear that certain fundamental conditions precedent can alone provide a proper solution of the problem and that any physical plans should comply with and be geverned by those principles, so far as economically practicable.

Enumerated they are

First That terminal operations within the Port District, so far as practicable, should be unified;

Second That there should be consolidation of shipments at proper classifications points so as to eliminate duplication of effort, inefficient loading of equipment and realize reduction in expenses;

Third That dere hould be the most direct routing of all commodities so as to avoid centers of congestion, conflicting currents and long track-hauls;

Fourth-That terminal stations established under the comprehensive plan should be union stations, so far as practicable;

Fifth-That the process of coordinating facilities should So far as practicable adapt existing facilities as integral parts of the new system, so as to avoid needless destruction of existing capital investment and reduce as far as may be possible the requirements for new capital; and endeavor should be made to obtain the consent of the States and local municipalities within the Port District for the coordination of their present and contemplated port and terminal facilities with the whole plan.

Sixth-That freight from all railroads must be brought to all parts of the port wherever practicable without cars breaking bulk, and this necessitates tunnel connection between New Jersey and Long Island, and tunnel or bridge connections between cther parts of the port;

Seventh-That there should be urged upon the Federal authorities improvement of channels so as to give access for that type of water-borne commerce adapted to the varicus forms of development which the respective shorefronts

out.

PLANS INVITED AND STUDIED

The Commissioners have received and studied every plan that has been submitted, and have publicly invited the submission of plans and suggestions from anyone interested in this problem, and criticisms or suggestions relating to the plans promulgated by the previous Bi-State Commission. It is, perhaps, worthy of remark that only one plan taking in the whole district has been presented from any source outside the Commission's own organization. All of the plans (eleven in number), which have been otherwise suggested have been confined almost solely to the solution for Manhattan service alone. Several of the largest projects in this relation have been submitted only within the last month or x weeks. These entailed additional conferences, concentrated analysis. and a day and night study by the staff and the Commissioners.

Late though it was, when these great projects were presented, the Commissioners felt that they should not reach their own conclusions until they had assembled and exhaustively studied every plan from whatsoever source it might appear, and until there had been applied to it the same measure of analysis and economic test that had been applied to the studies of the previous Bi-State Commission.

PORT AREA

The Port of New York embraces the largest body of sheltered waters of any port in the world. Its shore lines measure about 800 miles with much of the adjacent land as yet undeveloped and available for industrial and commercial needs. Its natural advantages, therefore, for expansion and for the service of the commerce of the nation, are almost unlimited.

PRINCIPLES OF REMEDIES

It is manifest. without argument, that only by a well devised and comprehensive plan can such a great expanse of natural advantages be properly developed and coordinated so that all portions may have their free opportunity, and also, that only by such means can there be avoided the mistakes of the past and be prevented the creation of new points of congestion that would occur again in the future by leaving the various districts unrelated.

If scientific knowledge, example and experience are not applied to the development of these natural resources, handicaps rather than advantages may result, and this has been so in the Port of New York. There is a widely held but mistaken view that water transportation is always the cheapest and that the existing system of car flcatage and lighterage is, therefore the best. It is true that long-haul traffic by water, with full loadings, is generally cheaper than rail transportation, especially when carrier and commodity are well adapted to each other. It is not true where commodities and cars have to be handled and rehandled between classification vards and final destination, and where, through lack of consolidation and unified operation, light loading and duplication of effort and equipment are unavoidable.

There are some exceptions in the case of certain bulk commodities, like coal and grain, but in the main, water service as now conducted, is one of the most expensive of the complex movements which compose the burden that commerce has to bear in this port and many other ports are not free from this difficulty.

THE PORT AS A WHOLE

The Port Authority had to consider the interests of the whole port, as well as the relations of each part. It had to suggest plans for prompt relief and project larger plans for future development as far ahead as the process of reasoning could foresee, so that each part of the port in the development of its local projects and its growth might properly coordinate them with the whole.

CROSSING STATE BOUNDARIES

As the boundary between the two States must necessarily Le crossed, it is essential that the crossing should be so located that the consent of municipalities will be readily secured and so that the assent of the States may likewise be obtained, and this would be most easily done through the adoption of the comprehensive plan.

THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

The keystone to the arch of the structure which we term the "comprehensive plan is the medium of connection between the two sides of the port. This keystone is, therefore, the necessary belt line connecting all of the nine railroads on the westerly side of the port, together with a tunnel under the bay and belt line to connect them with the three trunk lines on the easterly side of the port. In locating these there are two main factors to be considered, i. e., the purely physical factor and the service factor. The location of this belt line on the westerly side and of the tunnel was determined by many impelling reasons and only after very intensive study.

The cheif reasons are:

(a) That in this location can be made the shortest connecting link between all of the railroads terminating on the west side of the port;

(b) That it lies adjacent to and easterly of the existing Lreakup and classification yards of each of those railroads, with which it can be readily connected;

(c) That the cars from trains broken up and classified in those yards will then continue to move to this shortest connecting belt line by the shortest and most direct route and in the right direction;

(d) Conversely, that the same principle applies to westLound movements;

(e) The proposed tunnel from Greenville to Bay Ridge is the straightest, shortest and most direct course from that Felt line to the easterly side of the port. It is the most favorable location for construction, for freedom from interference by moving craft during construction, for underwater depth below which any permanent structure must be Iuilt. for absence of curves and for easy grades.

Considered, therefore, merely from the physical aspect of tunnel construction alone, this location has the most advantages. Considered from the question of short connections and approaches, both the physical and operating elements moke it the best.

It is by means of this same belt line that at appropriate locations there can be established suitable facilities for the consolidation of the car float and lighterage movement that must continue.

The belt line on the easterly side forming the through connection is an existing unit. Many other belt lines will be necessary to promote and serve industrial developments and water fronts. These form an essential part of the com

prehensive plan and their location has been fully discussed with and generally approved by the various localities to be served. They are located so as to co-relate their local improvements.

A full description of the routes and purposes of each of these belt lines will be found in the appendix identifying them with the map. It will be seen from the map of the comprehensive plan and from its accompanying descriptions that the plans conform to the fundamental principles previously enumerated, i. e., to permit of unification of railroad service, to bring cars from all railroads to all parts of the port, to permit of industrial development and to establish the most direct distribution of freight to its respective destinations and the most direct and economic interchange between rail and water-borne commerce, without previously breaking bulk.

MANHATTAN SERVICE

The insular position of the Borough of Manhattan, its intensively built up area, its peculiar topography with its greatest centers of congestion in its narrowest part, presented more involved problems and conditions peculiar to itself. The studies of traffic movements of the previous BiState Commission disclosed the fact that three-fourths of

the local freight traffic of the twelve trunk line railroads

was handled below 14th Street. Within these narrow confines are centered not only the great financial and administrative business offices, but also the great markets for food supplies, to which custom, for a century past, has drawn all those concerned with these enterprises. While it was early apparent that it was imperative to provide means by which the transportation of commodities originating in or destined to other sections of the port could be transported direct without passing through and congesting the streets of Manhattan, it is also certain that the customs and trade of a century cannot be ruthlessly uprooted and could not immediately be readjusted, even to a more economic situation, without disorganizing the services upon which the public must depend and without the destruction of much invested capital.

Manhattan's service also involves questions of important public policy affecting both New York and New Jersey, in relation to their respective water fronts on the Hudson River.

At present a large majority of the west water front of the Hudson River is occupied by terminal and float bridge yards of the New Jersey railroads, and a large part of the easterly side by the pier stations to which their floating equipment is brought for discharging and loading east and west-bound freight.

Operations as at present conducted bring to Manhattan. quantities of freight not intended for consumption or use on the Island of Manhattan, thereby involving unnecessary congestion and long truck hauls. Similarly, large quantities of freight not originating in Manhattan are at present trucked to the receiving stations on Manhattan, intensifying those conditions. It is very difficult to determine and no one can safely forecast exactly what effect the diversion by more direct means of communication as outlined on this plan will have upon the tonnages remaining to be handled to and from Manhattan. The ideal condition would be to have only that which is necessary for consumption in or for shipment from Manhattan itself handled on the Island of Manhattan, and this ideal has been kept in view in a study of the comprehensive plan. Manhattan must continue to be suppled with all those things necessary to the support of its people and the maintenance of its business and home life, and until other and better means than now exist are provided the water fronts of the Hudson River on both shores unavoidably will be compelled to furnish space for the needed rail terminals.

PUBLIC POLICY AND ECONOMICS Public policy, however, as well as sound economics, prescribe that the water front should be free for its natural and more normal uses by shipping. Highly specialized industries and services are located in that immediate neighborhood, such as refrigerated perishable products, including meat, fruits, vegetables, milk, dairy and poultry products, and there are strong reasons why these products should reach the warehouses furnished with cold storage without breaking bulk from the refrigerator car.

FREEING THE WATER FRONT FOR STEAMERS

This section of water front has been and will continue increasingly to be in demand as the berthing place of the fast passenger liners plying to all parts of the world and for such coastwise shipping as brings perishable food The available products for the markets of Manhattan. space is none too large to be allocated solely as time goes on for those specific purposes.

On the other hand, the opposite shore front on the New Jersey side which can be furnished with immediate rail head connection for standard freight cars without breaking bulk offers facilities for heavy cargo loadings direct from rail to ship, which is impracticable on the corresponding opposite shore front of Manhattan. Therefore, impelling

reasons require that any method devised for the service of local Manhattan freight should so far as possible free both these water fronts for those respective purposes.

The Commissioners unanimously decided that the point for classification and dispatch of Manhattan freight from New Jersey should be west of the water front, and that necessarily means that its starting point should be west of the Bergen Hills. They have unanimously decided that the terminal stations on Manhattan Island should be inland from the water front, for the purposes of freeing that for steamship business, with access to the piers unimpeded by rail traffic destined for consumption on Manhattan or by freight originating on Manhattan for rail shipment via the New Jersey roads.

RAILROAD OPERATIONS ON MANHATTAN

The Commissioners have given the most exhaustive study to whether the transportation of freight between New Jersey and Manhattan should be on the water, above the water, or by tunnel under the water. This question had to be considered coincidentally with the method of distribution to be employed after it reached Manhattan, and the Commissioners have unanimously decided that the connection should be by tunnel. The Commissioners have found that the amount of space that would be required on Manhattan Island to handle the number of standard freight cars that would have to be brought daily to and taken from the Island to accommodate even the present tonnages, would require so much land for tracks, yards, switching facilities, and supporting warehouse terminals, that it is economically impracticable to provide for the needs of the future by any system that has been presented or that they could devise, which entailed the operation of an all standard car freight service for inbound and outbound freight on this island without breaking bulk. The problem of westbound loadings to destination, of room to make the necessary setups and load and dispatch cars within the necessary time, cannot be solved except at an expense which would put an excessive burden upon the commerce instead of reducing that now existing

THE SYSTEM RECOMMENDED FOR MANHATTAN

The Commissioners have found that the automatic electric system suggested by the former Bi-State Commission, with some important modifications, furnishes the best solution to meet all the complexities which exist or were

developed in the discussions which have been held, and which seems to be the only one so far that will stand the test of economic proof. As designed, it can handle much more than the present normal traffic and can be expanded to meet future needs. While this is a novel system considered on so large a scale, it does not involve new or unsolved problems, either in construction or operation. Similar equipment and operations though on a smaller scale have been practically tested over a period of several years. in England, and the London Post Office Department as the result of those practical tests is now installing a high speed underground automatic electric system for the distribution of its mail. The system proposed here is on a much larger scale, but the principles have been established by experience and its feasibility has been confirmed by the most expert advisers in all its features.

It is true, as previously stated, that the carrying out of the comprehensive plan for sending direct to other parts of the port freight intended for them will have an as yet undetermined effect upon the freight destined to and from Manhattan alone, and it is also true that the installation of a complete new system such as the automatic electric will require radical changes in some existing customs of trade and methods of railway operation. Some of these factors are indeterminable at the moment by any exact science. It is considered, therefore, that the execution of the plan must be a process of evolution rather than one of revolution. Such a system would take several years to design, build and equip. Immediate relief in some degree must be provided.

PROMPT RELIEF

The Commission's plan for accomplishing this is shown in Exhibit "A" Plan for Present Relief, in the appendix. The only change this would require in the present New Jersey yards of the trunk lines is the provision of suitable platforms for making transfers between cars and trucks. It indicates terminals on Manhattan to be Union stations and they should, as soon as possible, be conducted as a unified operation.

IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION METHODS

Great

Great changes in methods of transportation have already been forecast, are under serious consideration by the trunk lines, and to some extent are already being experimentally tried. This is especially true of container units. economies are expected from this system through saving in labor; preventing breakage and theft; through cost of equipment; through easy transfer of containers from car to float, terminal or truck chassis; by eliminating individual package handling, and by application of mechanical methods for handling containers.

ADAPTABILITY OF RECOMMENDED SYSTEM

The automatic electric conveyor railroad is peculiarly well adapted to handle this type of transportation equipment. It has, nevertheless, been designed of standard gauge tracks and for a cross section of tunnels and underground work of size, curvature and grades to admit of standard freight cars being operated in it.

As approved by the Port Authority the terminals must be so constructed and the operations so arranged that those commodities requiring shipment in refrigerator cars can be brought without breaking bulk to the terminals in Manhattan. This has been determined to be feasible. The locations of the terminals suggested by the previous commission were made after an exhaustive study of the trucking to and from existing pier stations and with the view of zoning the Island so as to equalize, so far as practicable, the pick-up and deliveries within each zone, and thus to shorten truck hauls, eliminate converging and conflicting truck routes, and to

lessen congestion upon the streets. But they were tentative, and their exact locations can be altered if upon further study the diversion from Manhattan of freight destined to other parts of the port should make alterations in the locations of the Manhattan terminals desirable.

TIME FOR ACCOMPLISHMENT

It would take several years to design, construct and install the complete system. In the meantime prompt relief can be provided as above outlined and by consolidation of railroad car float and railroad lighterage service at appropriate points on the opposite side of the river; by unification of truck services and by the establishment on Manhattan of inland union terminals serving such consolidated and unified floating and truck operations, the inland terminals to be so designed and placed as to become the terminals of the automatic electric system when built and installed. Thus prompt relief can be obtained as part of the evolutionary process of bringing about the ultimate completion of the whole, and this can be done without abruptly disorganizing the industries and services upon which the city necessarily depends and without the destruction of large invested capital.

POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

With a problem so immense and so complex; with the policies and interests of two States and so many municipalities involved; with Federal control of the navigable waters and dependence upon it for the development and maintenance of channels; with the trade of the nation as conducted through this, its chief gateway, at stake; with 8,000,000 people living within the Port District, directly affected in every element of their cost of living and facility of earning their livelihood; with natural advantages unparalleled, not heretofore developed as science and invention would have dictated because of diverse interests; with continuity of policy and purpose essential if any great comprehensive plan is to be achieved for the future; with elements available out of which to construct the greatest Port and the greatest business center in the world, it must be apparent that only through a coordinating agency, clothed with adequate powers and composed so as to permit of continuity of plan and purpose, can there be brought to fruition. the great benefits that can be foreseen.

Until a plan is adopted the Commissioners can make no recommendations as to the sequence of work to be undertaken. This must be developed step by step, by subsequent study and negotiation to determine the economic possibilities. FINANCIAL METHODS

Article VI of the compact reserves to every municipality exclusive control over its own properties and entire freedom in its local developments.

The Port Authority is given nc power of eminent domain, but the adoption of the comprehensive plan will enable each municipality to plan its local developments so as to obtain additional advantages by coordinating them herewith.

The Port Authority cannot pledge the credit of either State or of any municipality as a means of securing funds to carry out any of the suggested works. It cannot levy taxes from any source. It must secure capital from investors on securities to be based on the properties it constructs, purchases or leases in carrying out its plans. The soundness of the enterprises must be proved by economic data, therefore the work can be undertaken only when investors have been satisfied that economic justification exists. The cost of service must necessarily provide for operation and maintenance and for interest upon and amortization of the bonds or other securities. Other ports in the United States and Canada have established similar organizations to The Port of New York Authority for the development and administration of their port affairs. Some of them have much greater powers

than those vested in The Port of New York Authority by the compact between the States of New York and New Jersey. It is upon such a basis that the great port of Liverpool has been built up and that the Port of London is being entirely recrganized and immensely enlarged. The securities of the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board of Liverpool issued upon the credit of the works to be performed have met a ready market and are favored by investors as are those of the Port of London Authority. The improvements there are and will be here operated in the public interest and when the capital is amortized the improvements will be publicly owned in fee. MAPS AND PLANS

There are included in this report, maps illustrating suggestions for prompt relief, suggesting highway routes for motor traffic and pictures of varicus municipal projects planned or already under construction, the availability and success of some of which will largely depend upon the comprehensive plan.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN Numbers have been placed on the map of the comprehensive plan to identify the varicus belt lines and marginal railroads. With the aid of these numbers the belt lines and marginal railroads may generally be described as follows:

No. 1-Middle belt line--the keystone of the arch of railroad terminal coordination within the Port District. It connects New Jersey and Staten Island and the railroads on the westerly side of the port with Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and the railroads on the easterly side of the port. This connection is the most direct, the shortest and the cheapest of any brought to the attention of the Commissioners for study or consideration. This line connects with the New York Central Railroad in the Bronx; with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in the Bronx; with the Long Island Railroad in Queens and Brooklyn; with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near Elizabethport and in Staten Island; with the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey at Elizabethport and at points in Newark and Jersey City; with the Pennsylvania Railroad in Newark and Jersey City; with the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Newark and Jersey City; with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in Jersey City and the Secaucus Meadows: with the Erie Railroad in Jersey City and the Secaucus Meadows; with the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad in West Hoboken; with the New York, Ontario & Western and the West Shore Railroads on the westerly side of the Palisades above the Weehawken tunnel. Its length is approximately sixty-one and one-half miles, of which approximately fifty-one and one-half miles have already been built. Additional tracks to those already built will have to be added. There remains only approximately ten miles of entirely new line to be built. With the construction of the tunnel and approaches from Greenville to Bay Ridge freight can commence to flow without the necessity of building any other trackage except short connections at the tunnel ends. To handle the full traffic that should

traverse this middle belt line or utilize it for local service would require the improvement of existing tracks and additions to them.

The route of the Middle belt line is as follows: Commencing at the Hudson river at Spuyten Duyvil running easterly and southerly generally along the easterly side of the Harlem river, utilizing existing lines and improving and adding where necessary, to a connection with Hell Gate Bridge and the New Haven Railroad, a distance of approximately seven miles; then continuing in a general scutherly direction, utilizing existing lines and improving and adding where necessary, to a point near Bay Ridge, a distance of approximately eighteen and one-half miles; thence by a new two-track tunnel under New York bay in a northwesterly direction to a portal in the Greenville yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Jersey City, a distance of approximately five miles, to a connection with the tracks of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley Railroads; thence in a generally northerly direction along the easterly side of Newark Bay and the Hackensack river at the westerly foot of the Palisades, utilizing existing tracks and improving and adding where necessary, making connections with the Jersey Central, Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Erie, New York, Susquehanna and Western, New York, Ontario and Western, and West Shore railroads, a distance of approximately ten miles. From the Greenville portal of the Bay tunnel and from the line along the easterly side of Newark Bay by the bridges of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (crossing the Hackensack and Passaic rivers) and of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley Railroads (crossing Newark Bay) to the line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey running along the westerly side of Newark Bay and thence scutherly along this line to a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad south of Eliza-. bethport, utilizing existing lines and improving and adding where necessary, a distance of approximately twelve miles; thence in an easterly direction crossing the Arthur Kill, utilizing existing lines and improving and adding where necessary, along the northerly and easterly shores of Staten Island to the new city piers and to a connection, if the City of New York consent thereto, with the tunnel under the Narrows to Brooklyn provided for under legislation as a municipal project-a distance of approximately nine miles.

No. 2-A marginal railroad in the Bronx extending along the shore of the East river and Westchester creek connecting with the Middle belt line (No. 1), and with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in the vicinity of Westchester. This is a new line and will open up territory for commercial and industrial development. Its length is approximately eight miles.

No. 3-A marginal railroad in Queens and Brooklyn extending along Flushing creek, Flushing Bay, the East river and upper New York Bay. It connects with the Middle belt line (No. 1), by lines No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and directly at the southerly end of Bay Ridge. It utilizes certain existing lines of the Brooklyn Eastern District, Jay Street, New York Dock and Bush Terminal companies. Existing lines will be utilized and improved and added to and new lines will be built where lines do not now exist. This railroad will open up territory for commercial and industrial development. It has a length of approximately nineteen and one-half miles, of which approximately four miles now exist and about fifteen and one-half miles will be new.

No. 4-An existing line to be improved and added to where necessary. It connects the Middle belt line (No. 1), with the marginal railroad No. 3 near its northeasterly end. It has a length of approximately two and one-half miles. No. 5-As existing line to be improved and added to where necessary. It connects the Middle belt line (No. 1), with the marginal railroad No. 3 in Long Island City. It has a length of approximately four miles.