The Bay Ridge Improvement of the Long Island Railroad comprises the
readjustment of the right of way and the establishment of new grades in
order to do away with grade crossings from the freight terminal at Bay
Ridge to a junction with the New York Connecting Railroad at East New
York, a distance of 10.4 miles. It also provides for the re-location of
the line and the elimination of grade crossings on the branch running to
Manhattan Beach, a distance of 3.7 miles. The work is being executed
without interrupting traffic, and in all about 75 grade crossings will
be abolished. This improvement became necessary in order to provide for
the rapid extension of population into the suburban districts and for
the present and future requirements of the section, to establish
municipal conveniences and facilities, and to open additional streets
across the right of way. To accomplish these ends, the line has been
built in cuts and on embankments, there being about 6.4 miles of the
former, 3.3 miles of the latter, and a tunnel, 3,500 ft. long, where the
line crosses the Atlantic Avenue improvement.

The Atlantic Avenue improvement, as mentioned above, involved the
removal of the railroad tracks from the street surface for a distance of
about 5-1/4 miles. This was done by constructing a series of elevated
and subway structures, there being about 2.1 miles of the former, 2.4
miles of the latter, and 0.8 mile of approaches, eliminating more than
90 grade crossings. In the light of recent developments, it may be of
interest to note that one of the reasons for establishing a combination
elevated and subway line was that, at the time the improvement was
projected, no underground railroad in the country, of similar length and
carrying a heavy volume of local traffic, was operated by electricity,
and public sentiment was against the operation of the entire length of
the line underground by steam power. This improvement also provided for
depressing the entire Flatbush Avenue station and a freight yard. As the