Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-21
1.-The New TOmlinsOn's Bridge.

foot of Bridge street met in the room of the Board of Public Works last evening, Alder man Armstrong presiding. There were pres ent beside Alderman Armstrong, representing the city, Councilman Brown. Representing the town were Town Agent Reynolds, Se- lectmen Andrew and Feldman. :" The report of Engineer Charles E. Fowler and his assistant, A. B. Hill, was read by MT. l Fowler as follows: To the Joint Special Committee on Tomlin-
 sons Bridge
 In obedience to instructions, plans, esti- mates, etc., are respectfully submitted here- with for new iron structure for Tomlinson's bridge.
 Surveys and examinations were first made of the old foundations to ascertain if they could be utilized for the new bridge.
 Drawing 'sA' is a section taken across the harbor on the center line of the old bridge showing the present superstructure, the re- spective waterways, piers and foundations as determined by careful sound1ngs, and the un- derlying strata determined by borings to the depth of 60 feet below the present road way.
 Considering simply the question of a bridge, regardless of the requirements of the harbor, 1t would be necessary to remove at least one of the present piers to make room for suitable pivot pier, for to put the
 
 present foundations would be very unwise.
 Other very important considerations enter and convince us that 1t would be best (when the requisite machinery is on the ground) to remove all of the old piers and foundations. They occupy three-fifths of the sectional area between low water and the bed of the river, and more than half the area below high water. They are a serious obstruction to the natural action of the tides, as is shown conclusiyely by recorded government tidal observations taken above and below the bridge during the same lnuation. |. The present area of waterway below low water is only .54, and below high water only ! .58 of the area used by Messrs. Mitchell and Whiting in fixing the harbor lines Gas com puted from data given in their report to the Harbor Commissioners).
 In order to obtain the area used by them it l would be necessary to remove all the present piers. A study of the currents and velocities | shows that it would be desirable to have an | even greater area of waterway than used in | Messrs. Mitchell and Writings calculations l for harbor lines, in order to secure conven- ] fence and safety to craft passing through the ] bridge, and to avoid excessive securing of the 1 foundations in time of freshets. 1 The following table shows the areas of wa 1 terways and piers below average low water, | and also below average high water first with the old bridge, second with the proposed new bridge, and third as used in the compu- ] tations for harbor lines.
 SECTIONAL AREAS l Between low water and bed of river. l Conditions. Waterway. Piers
 Ssr s!a sfisss ss2S ssS ssS fs Used in Computations from
 harbor lines. ..............5, 5,97o sq.ft l Between high water and l bed of river.
 Old bridge. 5000 sq it. 6160 ga fit. New bridge. g, $40 sq.ft 141o sq 1t. | Used in computations from
 ] harbor lines. ............9 9,697 sq.ft l By removing the five old piers and their l foundations and substituting three modern l cut stone piers of minimum dimensions, as per accompanying plans, we can make the 1 new bridge 26 feet shorter between abutments l than the old bridge and obtain more than l double the present area of waterway at low water and nearly double at high water. Moreover, the rip rap from the old founda- tions is needed in widening the causeway.
 And with steam graphing dredge on the
 ground such rip-rap can be obtained as cheap ly on the site as from the quarries.
 The proposed new bridge is one foot wider l and ten feet longer between abutments than
 the new Quinnipiao bridge at Ferry street.
 It consists of two span iron swing bridge l 204 feet~G inches long between centers of end l supports, with channel openings on each
 side of 80 feet clear, and fixed span at each
 end 126 feet long between centers of end
 piers. The roadway is 22 feet wide in the
 clear between trusses with five feet clear
 sidewalks on each side The roadway is de
 signed for horse railroad track with car.
 riageway on each side. The bridge is pro porticned to carry with the usual factors oi
 safety, besides it's own weight, a uniformly
 distributed moving load of 80 pounds pc,
 square foot of roadway and sidewalks, or
 concentrated load of 16 tons on four wheels
 feet apart transversely and feet apart
 longitudinally, placed anywhere on the road
 way. The turntable is rim bearing. The
 swing span swings through complete circle and is reversible, end for end. Drawing
 "B' Is side elevation of the proposed new bridge, showing the trusses, turntable, rail
 ing, piers, abutments, waterways, &c. ] Drawing "C" is a transverse section show ing the floor system, lateral bracing and the ' connections of the different members.
 Drawing ID" is the strain sheet, showing the maximum stresses in each member re
 sulting from the specified loads, and the met al designed to meet them.
 Drawing ''E" Is a plan of the fender pier. l l Drawing 'tF" is esofle of the center line
 of the roadway from East Street to tho cast
 erly end of the causeWay. The e--Biack lines ! show the present re,adway.- tfred red lines the - grade of the new bridge, and also of the ap . brooches as they would probably be with bridge over the railroad crossing at Water street. A bridge at this latter point, where 1 switching is going on, will be needed fol , safety before Tomlinson's bridge will bs used to any great extent by the general pub lie. This bridge is not included in the esti mates.
 Drawing ''G" is map of the locality Tn, black lines represent the present condition O.
 things, the red lines the proposed improve
 ments.
 ESTIMATES OF Cosr l Removing old structure and foundations eIS OD 7 Substruoture of new bridge .s44,ooo ? Superstructure Of new bridge. 4'CO0 J Fender pier of new bridge ......... 5000 sse,Ooo-sss, ,oo l Widening causeWay 13 feet and srradipp IT m s12a, The widening of the causeway probabl
 would not be absolutely needed for man, years.
 The dredging out of the foundations O the old bridge being necessary, chiefly fo the improvement of the harbor, the question suggests itself as to whether the general gov 1 ernment should not bear at least part, an . the larger part, of the expense of such drede < ing. For a brief history of Tomlinson7 : bridge reference is made to the annual repor of the City Engineer for 1881. , Respectfully submitted CHARLES B. FOWLER, ] 17.:.
 ALBERT B. HILL, HnSineers. New Haven, Conn.,, Dec 20, 1882. F | MT. Fowler explained the proposed in, , provements at length. He said that the re
 moval of the old structure would cost abou a $1S,OoO.
 ? Chairman Armstrong called upon the Cor
 poration Counsel, who was present, to expres , 1 his views on the matter.
 MT. Driscol1 stated that he had not, sine l he had been in office, been called upon te I l give the matter any consideration. , It was voted to accept the report of tn , committee.
 MT. Reynolds moved that the representa- l lives of the Consolidated railroad be invite, s to meet the committee to consider the plan l as presented by the engineers
 It was voted to adjourn subject to tn 5 call of the chairman, he to fix the time whe1
 1t would suit the convenience of the repre- sentatives of the Consolidated railroad Th f meeting will probably be held on Tuesday O s Wednesday evening of next week. , Election Officers. n Adelphi Lodge, r. $ A. M: John T Sloan, W: M.; Joseph s. Holaday, s. ". u Francis Ray, J. w.; A. H. Cargill, treasurer 2 Jason P. Thompson, secretary. ! Mercantile Lodge, No. 1,352, K. of H. r Dictator, c. ". Scranton vice dictator
 J. B. Morse; assistant dictator. F. A. New