The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-08 00:00:00

NEW WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.

Before this period of the year it was confidently
anticipated that some of the beautiful arches of
New Westminster Bridge would have been in their
places, and all the first half of the structure far ad-
vanced towards its completion and opening for pub-
lic traffic. We are sorry to say, however that some
months must yet elapse before the hideous dilapida-
tion which now spans the river and seems about to
fall into it will be relieved from further duty.
Until Midsummer at least the old bridge must be
used, but after that time there is no doubt but that
the public will have a noble structure, not alone
safe for traffic, but even worthy of the group of pa-
laces on which it abuts at Westminster. The delays
which have arisen in the course of its construction

have been almost unavoidable and so peculiar in
their kind that it is not worth whilo to cntor into
them here. But, from whatever cause the,. may
have arisen, they have always been a source of dis-
appointment and chagrin to Mr. Page, the engi-
neer and architect of the bridge—tbe same gentle-
man who has already spanned our river at Chelsea
with one of the handsomest bridges in Europe, and
who in the present work seems bent an surpassing
his own high and well deserved reputation as the
architect of the Hest and handsomest structure of

the kind extant.
As we hare said, the arches are not yet in course
of erection, but within six weeks of the present
time three of those from the Surrey side will be

well advanced. The weather just now is very um
favourable for meddling with large masses of cam
iron, and the dense fogs which have lately pre
wailed on the river are equally against beginning
operations of such magnitude and difficulty as fix-
ing the arches across between the piers. In the
meantime the works on the bridge have not been
altogether delayed, and such progress has been
made with the other halves of the piers as will
enable the second or earlier portion of the bridge
to be completed with very little trouble hereafter.
Most of the iron arches are ready at the contrac-
tors at Battersea. Owing to their great span and
the peculiarly flat curve of each arch the crowns
are unusnally thin, and, in order to overcome this
difficulty, it has been necessary to construct the
ribs of each arch in a peculiar manner of wrought
and cast iron. The crown of the arch is there ore
made of wrought iron, so as, while giving the re-
quisite stiffness to the centre, it obviates the danger
of constant percussion from heavy loads. The
centre part of each arch thus answers the purpose
of both rib and girder. The wrought iron portions
vary in span from the centre arch, where they are
521 feet long, by 28 inches deep, to the land arches,
where they are 43 feet 3 inches by 22 inches deep.
These centre spans are of rolled iron by 11 inch
thick, and constructed to bear with safety more
than double the strain they are ever likely to en-
counter in the ordinary course of London traffic.
The full load strain of each arch is three tons the
square inch, but all wrought iron portions are tested
with a compressive strain of 12 tons to the squar%
inch, or nearly 2,000 tons to the square foot. In
each arch will be 13 of these ribs, each rib being 5
feet 4 inches apart. Every rib and spandril wlil
contain 22 tons of east iron and five tons of wrought,
the cast bed plates for each being four tons, making
some 34 tons in all. The total amount of wrought
iron in the arches will be 750 tons, and of cast
3,400 tons, exclusive of the quantity used in each
pier. In addition to this there are some 300 tons
of ornamental castings for tie parapet, outside
ribs, and cornice. The squandrils of each of the
outside ribs are of richly ornamented ironwork,
with quatrefoil openings. The parapet is similarly
designed, but with trefoil apertures. Mr. Page
had the benefit of Sir Charles Barry's advice in
the ornamental accessories of this iron in order
that its design might be as much as possible in
keeping with the architectural style of the new
Houses of Parliament. By this arrangement,
therefore, the new bridge will harmonize completely
with the noble suburb of palaces, to which it will
form the most important public avenue. In matters
relating to public works of this kind the extent of
the intended improvements is so apt to be forgotten
that it may not be amiss here to give the general
dimensions of the new bridge as compared with
those of the old structure it is intended to replace.
The.old bridge is just 1,160 feet in length, and only
44 in width. The width of its roadway
.is 26 feet,
the footpaths arc 8 feet each. The height from
foundation to centre arch is 57 feet ; the depth of
its foundation below low water mark only six feet
the rise of the whole structure being* 10 feet above
the new bridge. The cost of this edifice—certainly,
when first built, one of the handsomest in Europe,
was £390,000, or at the rate of £7 16s. per super-
ficial foot. The area of its waterway is only
16,000 feet, while the pressure on its foundations
amounts to no less than 6 tons per foot, the whole
mass weighing upwards of 90,000 tons. As regards
improvement, the new bridge will be the very re-
verse of all this. Its extreme length from abut.
ment to abutment is 1,160 feet, its width 85—nearly
30 feet wider than the width of London-bridge.
No le-is than 15 feet is allowed for each footpath,
and 50 feet for the roadway. The greatest height
of the centre arch will 22 feet above high water
mark, while the depth of the foundations pis as
much as 30 feet below low Water, or more than 20
feet into the London clay. The rise on the whole
bridge is to be 5 feet 3 inches, at first apparently
only half the rise of the old bridgs, though really
less than one-third, as the new bridge joins the
roadway at a much lower level. In the new bridge
there seven arches ; in the old, 13 ; yet, neverthe-
less, the waterway of the former will give a greater