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The new policies were not enough to control speeders and those who abused the parkway so a 1922 amendment to the parkway law established police authority for the BRPR. By the end of 1923, rules regulated bathing and prohibited loitering, littering, signs, weapons, and merchandising. The new parkway regulations also forbid commercial vehicles from the parkway drive and established speed limits. The parkway’s maximum speed limit was 25 miles per hour in New York City, 30 miles per hour in Westchester County, and 8 miles per hour while turning corners. Vehicles traveling on the parkway had the right-of-way over those traveling on intersecting streets. Other traffic problems surfaced as well. The congestion on Sundays and holidays was so severe at East 233rd Street and Yonkers Avenue that the BPC ordered Holleran to prepare a study for a grade separation at that location.(253) Paving was finished between Woodland and Main Street in White Plains and from Yonkers to Tuckahoe in January 1924. By midsummer, the last section of road from White Plains to Valhalla was ready to be paved, as was a small section between Harney and Ardsley roads. By the end of 1924, the parkway drive was open from Bronx Park to North White Plains. Other work for the year included building approximately 20 miles of 5'-wide cinder paths for pedestrians and equestrians. Merkel ordered alders, American Beeches, and mountain laurel to help complete the parkway landscape.(254) One of the final major projects needed to finish the parkway was the installation of lighting. The BPC described the lighting task as one of the most difficult technical challenges of the entire parkway project. Roadway lighting had not yet developed to a high level of efficiency, and the BPC determined that most existing systems were expensive and unsatisfactory. BPC engineers had studied the problem of how to light the parkway for years, researching the systems in use in other cities and highways. When the BPC had finally selected the most efficient light, it discovered that none of the commercially available light poles would work in the parkway. BPC engineers designed rustic-looking cedar light standards to harmonize with the parkway’s naturalistic environment. Holleran recommended that at least 500 standards be installed along the drive, with 100 additional poles ordered for replacement purposes. The BPC advertised for contracts on the lighting installation in mid 1924 and expected to pay between $220,000 and $225,000 for the project. Bids were obtained on four variations of the basic system. The contract was awarded to the second lowest bidder, the James Sudgen Company of New York City. The lowest bid was rejected because the contractor had no experience with this type of work, while the James Sudgen Company was "thoroughly experienced in the construction of lighting systems." Lighting standards were placed 200' apart on one side of the drive. Each post was equipped with a 400 candlepower lamp and Holophane refractors designed to distribute light and eliminate annoying and dangerous glare. The power transmission lines between the individual light standards was encased in conduit and buried to eliminate the ugly hanging wires that defiled conventional roadsides.(255) Monuments and MarkersVarious monuments and markers were erected throughout the parkway. During the commissioners’ early days inspecting the BRPR they would occasionally find a boulder or rock ledge suitable for inscription. The boulders and rock ledges selected by the commission were in prominent locations and the inscriptions were intended to be plainly visible to passersby. Many of the tablets were simply inscribed, "Bronx River Parkway Reservation." In November 1914, Grant saw a boulder he wanted mounted on a rock ledge opposite Scarsdale Station. A tablet listing basic information about the BPC was attached to this boulder. In 1916, the BPC designated additional sites appropriate for bronze tablets, including boulders and rock outcrops in White Plains, Crestwood, Bronxville, and Bronx Boulevard. One of the most notable markers in the BRPR was a tablet that commemorated Emily Butler’s gift of land at Fox Meadow in Scarsdale. The tablet was unveiled in a simple ceremony with Butler in attendance in October 1920. The BPC instructed Downer to have tablets placed on all bridges erected by the BPC. Although some bridges had tablets noting the dates constructed, architect, and other information, others were completed with no tablets at all. Various monuments were designed by Stoughton, including the bronze tablet on a stone monument near the BRPR entrance at Bronx Park. He also designed the stone tablet for one of the piers on the Valhalla Bridge.(256) |
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| (253)Downer,
"Public Parks in Westchester County," 972-973; Bronx Parkway
Commission, Minutes, November 20, 1923, 133-143; October 28, 1924, 163-165. |
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