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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen from one of the greatest the most a star across parts of the world here at the Bowery on the tip of the Manhattan Island the point at which the great compliment Ruka really stretched out from the only thing getting to the early dusk of the month suddenly as the early seventies came back they never recognize our own territory and the occasion today is the link between between two great arterial highways the west side highway linked by this underpass of South Ferry with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt got the nod for this a present to Chairman General Charles a hand commissioner upon a work for the both of them happened to Mr Hand. Distinguished city officials ladies and gentlemen as the commissioner of works of Manhattan I welcome you to the ceremonies which marked the completion of this very model is underpants and it's said turning over to the public we will begin with a star spangled banner appropriately by the police band under cap and proud. During. Our work. Toward. War. During. War. Ladies and gentlemen the invocation will be spoken by the Reverend Raymond as KHON of the seaman's church Institute Dr Hong. Merope we rightfully. Almighty and everlasting God We asked by blessing upon our mayor and all those who administer the affairs of this city keep them mindful of their obligation to give our city clean and honest government as we gather to dedicate this on the path. Bless the web of our hands. In these days of imagine saying grant that we may think to know when to do it I will realizing that with Zion help all things can be accomplished all of which we asked will I bless a Son Jesus Christ our Lord Amen. Ladies and gentlemen and we have a very distinguished gathering on the platform. We have no fewer than one two three four five six. Former of our pride. All of whom I needed a witness preparation. Little interruption all of them are here to do is to witness the relation of this work I think I should really name him Mr Isaacs. Mr Rogers our predecessor I don't know Mr Sprague on. Former President Levy. I don't think Mr magnesium Mr Miller. The sponsor of the miller West Side Highway. And Mr Nathan judge made it a good place. The barons are represented we have the lines about oppression the Bronx I think you think about. Unfortunately the Alabama presidency requite busy with their own affairs but all presidents before him a very useful function and when. Occasionally there is a Navette of the short. The public reaches the conclusion that a friend Bob Moses while a father of most public works is not always responsible for this or that. True he has given great data in this situation but we claim this is our own. We have with us today of course my dear friend. And the president of our own head of Manhattan Mr Robert a black son of a distinguished province. And I must admit quite about our present view of the fact that Imus is just. I give you Bobby Wagner. By confining. The mission at hand. Reverend members of the clergy deputy mayor. Jim Lyons commissioners Singlish guests and friends. This is truly a as direct moment in the for the people have been happy. And I'm very grateful for the opportunity I enjoyed in completing this project. With completion of the battery on the past we have forged another link in the Burroughs arterial system and up bringing closer to reality I dream of a quarter of a century ago I am happy indeed that we have with us on this occasion some of the men who shared that dream and pushed forward the plans for improving and consolidating our water front and for construction of broad highways along the periphery of the bar and I refer specifically to the past for presidents who have joined with us in celebration of this occasion. Samuel Alito Judge Jr smell of Stanley Isaacs judge Edgar knights and you go right to. There is certainly justification for us to derive a great deal of satisfaction from what has thus far been accomplished on the west side of the Judas Miller highway provides a broad Andriy for motor vehicles and protects the port and shipping interests from interference by through traffic on the east side the Franklin D. Roosevelt drive carries through traffic along majestic housing developments growing hospital side of the United Nations and parks and playgrounds all of these are dramatic proof of the improve living conditions of the people of the barrel of been hacked they symbolize our own yielding faith in our democratic form of government and in the future of our city it is true however that a great deal remains to be done and we know that traffic congestion and talking problems settle millions of dollars annually on our business enterprises and on our consumers. I think the people of Manhattan are fortunate in that my colleagues on the Board of Estimate recognize the special problems of our borrow they have been most cooperative in undetected understanding the special needs of up our own and as approved plans at fencing our arterial system to completion in fact I can announce on this occasion that within the next two or three weeks we will begin construction of the South Street over the past which will carry traffic from this underpass over the Fulton Fish Market on the active downtown peers to the Franklin D. Roosevelt drive at houses and streets we are moving forward to with plans to restore the inherent beauty of this particular city that's very park will be rebuilt and the historical grandeur of this area will be preserved. We are also planning a bus terminal for the confident convenience of passengers to and from Staten Island progress can also be reported in the construction of bulkheads preliminary to the ultimate construction of the Harlem River Drive the last link in Manhattan's arterial system I believe this factory underpass is a thing of beauty and will play an important role in the rapid movement of Hickey electronic construction of the underpass was a truly cooperative undertaking and the people of this city always debt of gratitude to all those who had a hand in it it would certainly be impossible to name all the groups who contributed wholeheartedly to its completion certainly we cannot forget the mayor and the Board of Estimate for their vision in appropriating ten million dollars for this project and no great work like this can be undertaken without the sympathetic and wholehearted support of Commissioner Robert Moses the great builder of our day. Commissioner Ed Cavanaugh rose here and personnel of the Department of Marine and aviation have not only been most helpful in resolving mutual engineering problems but suffered most sympathetically and patiently when construction activity block compares to their office and commission a suddenly Bingaman engineers of the part of transportation have been most cooperative in coordinating our activities with those that they had a part of the law department and Cooperation Council John McGrath Well most helpful in construing the fine print in our construction contracts and resolving the countless legal problems which have a risen in the costs of construction. The Civic Center Association has given its wholehearted support to this project in the long and understanding manner that it has supported all public improvements in the downtown area aisle a contractor the national structures cooperation and its president Joseph Melton the subcontractors the labor unions the workers on the job all cooperated splendidly in the single effort to complete this structure in the most expeditious and economical vanity Minissha commission a Thomas Murphy in the police department commission a judge Monahan in the fire department committed commission ANDREW MOHL reign and the sanitation department have given us the utmost of cooperation in planning an integrated program for the safe and secure maintenance of the underpants as we dedicate this underpass I want to express to all of them my deepest appreciation and to many of the public who were seriously inconvenienced during construction go my sincerest apologies I also want to take this opportunity to pay special tribute to a group of men in whom I take particular pride the engineering staff of the bar a president's office the underpass was completely designed by our engineer every phase of the work was performed under supervision of our engineers and all inspection elective of these were undertaken by our engineers I think they did a great job and the people of this city should be proud of them. I want to take make a special point at this time about our engineers and other civil service personnel generally. It is on deed unfortunate that every year at this time when the city is preparing its budgets too many irresponsible persons take this opportunity to slander the civil service employees here is striking proof of the vision the ability the energy and of the country interests manner in which civil service employees discharge their duties it is a matter of record that our engineers receive salaries below those prevailing in private industry and in state and federal employment these Benon women in all phases of the city service the engineers the nurses the police and firemen and in all other classifications are dedicated to public service and should not be obliged to carry on under the strain of great personal and financial sacrifices they build our bridges and tunnels they protect our lives are not property they educate our children they operate the safest railroad in the world they provide for the needy and minister to the ailing today as we dedicate another one of their projects that us not forget that it is because of their loyalty and devotion that eight million people can live in so small an area in peace security and tranquility thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen and calling upon the next speaker. I finally have to make mention his name Dr Dan to find him he occupies more positions more niches of importance in the cities and any other officials they are innumerable he has as many options the AS position he is a man of great genius. And a man of fine art if you're a day know of his genius look around the city to the many monuments testifying to his greatness there are many between one talk point and Buffalo Robert Moses. It is. The high hand kind of our present Wagner and members of the fraternity. Are a president. And friends and. I. Would like to make it very clear that I'm not one of those fellows who think these are the ancestor daddy of everything around. We have had vast little reply Sardina a relatively short time to get things done some of us have been fortunate and. Lasting an awfully long enough to get a long range programs carried out. The only. Privilege and immunity I enjoy which is not enjoyed. By some of my friends on the right here is that I don't have to get elected. In this particular case they. Originally improvement was the miller highway I don't think that's debatable. But to not only is a deal a vision. But it took a whole lot of Boston character to put that through people take it for granted today a matter of fact I don't know what we would do on the west side without it. And that was part of play a whole west side and Henry Hudson improvement. Now we have the new tunnel to Brooklyn and with that tunnel goes this in progress the moving of the far jobless Fanshen the reconstruction of battery costs eventually the reconstruction of Farai mobile of the elevated highway. There for all months of all please Staten Island terminals the want to hear as the one in Staten Island. And many other things that carrier miles away from this particular location they're all monochrome one big plant us all nonsense people to say that these are isolated. Things projects that we do here and there just odds are Man's that don't add up to anything they're all pot one big program and they require as far a present Wagner as say at the cooperation of many people in public service and out not only the elected officials the commissioners an administrator the medical ministry of officials of many departments. A consulting engineers the contractors and last but not least the members of the unions who actually do all of the work and the problem of bringing all these people together in the one program for you have in addition to local. Control you have by state problems that involve the port authority you have problems with involve the tribe or Bridge and Tunnel Authority and many others they all have to be brought together each one has to do is pot is perfectly fully for any one group to claim any precedence or any special credit I'm happy to be here to congratulate the foreign presence of the borough president and his predecessor ensnares assistants It's a great undertaking this much more to be done and that's buckle down in doing. Ladies and gentlemen we had expected Marion proletarian Unfortunately one of his very very dear friends died in this is just the owner of this morning this day in his stead we have with us his popular deputy mayor Mr Charles Harley. Mr Chapman our president Lagan a distinguished guests ladies and gentleman. I bring to you all of the great things of merriment solitary. And his congratulations to the president of lag neurons and all who participated. In this splendid public achievement. Up to the end of the eighteenth century the development of Manhattan Island was rather haphazard and extended only from here up to house down the street. Beyond where the trails post groans and sprawling farmlands at that time I wise for fathers envisioned the fact that the city was to assume anything of an oily nature planning was necessary. To achieve this plan a commission was appointed under the authority of the state which employs the famous but somewhat forgotten engineer John Randolph and eighteen eleven they brought forth the most comprehensive American city plan achieved up to that time the St Catherine you're see today in Manhattan Island between a house in St and one hundred twenty five straight as substantially identical with that laid down by Randall and the commissioners in eighteen eleven. This plan has often been criticized in D.C. and recent years by our modern city planners their criticism was mainly that there should have been more noise and sounds of ave overs and less across town therapists hindsight of course is generally Sapir yet just for science history and experience are our best teachers it is only fair to the original planners to recall that at the time this street pattern was prepared and there were no automobiles no trolley cars no buses the area to the north was relatively remote and inaccessible. The buildings that had been erected were LOL and to a large extent detached greenery in the form of native trees was abundant and the life of the area came from the port which was then the side of by sailing vessels fighting along both the north and east drivers the main traffic was cross town between these waterfronts even the prospect of steamship rail and other rapid means of transportation was a snap in sight under those circumstances. No one could have foreseen the revolutionary transformation in transportation that would have warranted additional avenue always and fuel across town streets up to the only part of this century traffic had not yet begun to present the myriad problems that were to accompany the increasing use of multiple rate personal passenger cars and most Abbas's to share of the growing working population concentrated on those small island by the ONLY one nine hundred twenty S. The major part of the street system laid down by Randall had been constructed. But this was inadequate to meet traffic needs in order to meet the situation a bold traffic plan had to be planned was formulated this plan I am happy to say was put forth by the office responsible for the structure we dedicate today the Office of the president of the barrel of Manhattan. That office recognized at that time that little could be done to the built up avenues to provide additional traffic roadways through Manhattan the cost was to prohibited they realized however that a practicable means of traffic relief through this long narrow Highland would be to utilize the waterfronts which had not been developed for its road traffic purposes the underpass we get it Kate here today is the next to the last link in lower Manhattan this cycle parental highway this underpass was only a paper plan up to the time the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was conceived that tremendous enterprise involving major changes in the van existing street pattern at the Brooklyn and Manhattan Termini for sightedly those who were engaged in the task brought about a tripartite agreement with the city the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Massarotti and the federal government to achieve a comprehensive plan for tunnels streets approaches and expressways up this the underpass as a part. The bar president in Manhattan and his engineers have taken advantage of their prior experience on structures of those kind Joe incorporated in this underpass the most modern developments in the engineering field on behalf of Marin cometary I wish to compliment the architects the engineers and the craftsman Oh produced this was the opening of their son the past one probe by a useful and necessary link between the Lower Manhattan waterfront on the west side of the island and the Lower Manhattan area on the east side it was so over the maritime interests of the port that have been growing passenger traffic and provide a new cross town for a fat free upgrade crossings between the east and west sides of Manhattan Island with the completion of the South Street elevated highway which will extending from the other end of the underpass on South Street to the southern end of the East River Drive near Montgomery Street and the contemplated elimination of the traffic lights along this drive a waterfront Thruway will be created around Manhattan Island from the Triborough Bridge on the east to the Henry Hudson Bridge on the west it is a major accomplishment of which our sitting is indeed proud and on behalf of the mayor I wish to congratulate the Barack President and his staff for a splendid job well done. Ladies and gentlemen we now come to the benediction. And I confess to you I am in somewhat of a quandary we have two clear German both distinguished air one Jewish and one Roman Catholic how to decide it was up to me so I decided to. Rabbi her because Stein of the Westside institutional synagogue should accompany us to a luncheon and pronounce the invocation there. And I trust that the Reverend George V. Fagan was pastor of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary and who will now pronounce the benediction will not be a little bit out of sorts as a consequence of the age he can accompany his to the luncheon I might say the father Fagan known in New York for many years. As the church across the park here and historic gorgeous old church which under his pastorate as promoted the size of its congregation and increased the popularity of the church in this section father Fagan. Lord God of heaven and. We pray for many things for we acknowledge our dependence upon me for all the material things of life and for the spiritual qualities by which we can gain everlasting life. But most of all we pray for that I wished him to enter the heights in the minds of those assembled here to benefit their fellow man. And guide them and the many problems they must face in this existence they would all alone so make use of this star affair we pray they and downing them with an understanding of Nine's relations with man and of his greater relations with the his Creator God that I light shine upon them and lightening their paths and enabling them to see the road to eternal glory Amen. And now ladies and gentlemen is the final function we shall have the cutting of the ribbon the tape which marks the formal opening of the tunnel the ceremony will be performed by a little six year old Robert F. Wagner the third son of the barrel press. That seven year old I am corrected not six. Thank you for being present. Now ladies and gentlemen we'll just give you the atmosphere of the cutting of the tape and this underpass here at the battery running as a dozen one of the most are populated sections and are being constructed all the time that all of the traffic to Staten Island to and from Staten Island by the ferry service which is one of the factors here at the tip end of Manhattan Island while the ferry service was maintained all the time that this construction was going on and those of us who had a chance to think down into that huge hole Arafat's offend a Manhattan Island or amazed at the amount of water mud and slush that this. Underpass had to be constructed in because when we figure it out in the early colonial days for instance we take the west side here and Greenwich Street was the river road and all this land from Greenwich Street down the west and that would mean Washington on West Street has been reclaimed the land on the water and the extent of Manhattan Island of course has been greatly increased by. Side.