Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1885-02-24
romLrNsoN BRIDGE QUESTION.

Some OF The objections Raised To
Its Continuance-A Restraint To
The Flow Of The Tides And Eff
lects OF This On The Harbor-
What An Observer Claims.
70 the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
The obstruction of Tom1inson bridge to
land and water transportation has not only
often been commented upon by our citizens,
but the United States engineer officers in
charge of this district have in their annual
report made mention of it to the government.
and we append from Col. ]. w. Barlows re-
port to the chief of engineers of 1879, ap-
pendix G, page 239, the following:
s'By comparing tidal observations taken at
Chapel street bridge and at the lighthouse
it is seen that st the former place the rise
and fall during neap tides, we'll as the
mean, are greater than at the latter
''The variation during spring tides, there
fore, should be still greater at the upper point
than the lower, the reverse of this being the
fact, i. 9. the rise and fall during spring tides
is less at Chapel street bridge than at the
lighthouse, which proves that the movement
of the tidal current is hindered
by an obstruction. Tonlinson bridge
with its long abutments and heavy
feet, the width of the harbor being about
1. 400 feet. This bridge is therefore severe
obstruction, preventing the complete filling
aud emptyine of the tidal reservoir above.
The capacity of the bridge opening may be
enlarged, either by replacing part OF the
east abutment by piers, or by substituting
for the present piers, whose aggregate width
is 155 feet and others of smaller size. The latter
method is perhaps preferable, as the removal
Of the abutnent (and causeway) would per-
nit a wearing off of the east fat to the de-
triment of the channel below. 1t is certain
" nest desirable that the bridge be so
modified by it's owners as to admit of the
free movements to and from tn6 upper TIDAL
basin"
Tomlinson's bridge when completed in
1899 answered every purpose it was con-
structed for. The engineer who planned
this approach to the city made ample allow
ance for the free movement of the tidal cur
rent by advantageously locating the numer-
GUS sluices or waterways, and making them
If liberal width and apart from each other
far enough to admit of an even
flow and prevent impeding the move
Inent of the tidal wave when greatest
SAY about the fourth hour of flood or ebb.)
These waterways were given unusual width
to allow large bodies of drift ice to pass sea-
ward and clear the Mill and Qainnipiao
rivers from this obstruction; but of late
years, on account of the decayed condition
of the bridge, now nearly eighty-fve years
old, these waterways have been
partly closed by more than one hundred piles
driven and braced by planks to support this
unsafe structure. This obstruction holds
back the current and is the means to-day of
costing thousands of dollars to the various
business interests which have with expendi-
lures of millions of dollars located above the
bridge on account of the advantage the water
fronts give.
The narrowness of the draw and sluice is
also great detriment to the movements of
the port, which has increased within the last
thirty years, according to a rough estimate,
ten fold. A draw, in the writer's opinion,
should be constructed of not less width than
one hundred feet when opened for the pas
sage OF large vessels, RATS OF timber and
long tows of barges. This space is necessary
meet at this center and make |
a strong lee tide which frequently causes |
vessels and tows to take false sheer and
ground upon a deposit of silt and mud
formed, it is claimed, by the current of that |
bridge Often several hours detention en- |
sues. We are told that RATS of timber have |
b1ockaded the narrow space for hours, and |
the pumerous feet of oystermen both steam i
and call have been detained for hours, causing |
a loss of time to those engaged in this valua- |
Bile industry, amounting indirectly to an |
actual loss of time and money, as wind and |
tide wait for no one.
This bridge obstruction also stems the |
tidal wave and causes setback or surface |
current over the flood tide (Which is forced /
into our harbor from Long Island Sound by |
a known pressure from the Atlant1c) and
prevents its natural f1oWage to the great res
ervoir of the Quinnipiac valley, which, If al |
lowed to store itself, would on the ebb per
form valuable service for sanitary and /
securing purposes by carrying seaward the
deposit from our sewerage system.
This accumulation of back water which has
often been noticed by competent observers
has at times (about the fourth hour of the |
aood) thrown an elevation on the south side
of the bridge of at least one foot higher than
on the north. This seems to have caused
an eddy current to set along the Wharves on
the west side of the harbor in southwark |
which must on the turn of the tide |
to ebb have been t. power which for the |
past eighty years has slowly washed the long
sand flat in our harbor known as ''the beach"
seaward and assisting in forming the Pardse
bar.
This sand fat was 80 years ago, the writer |
is informed by Captain Lyman Osborn, of /
West Chapel street, gentleman now in his /
93d year, a dry sand spit, 100 feet wide, pro- |
iecting northward from Sandy Point into the |
harbor with its terminus opposite and east |
Of the most southern extremity of Oyster l
Point, and separated thsrefrom by the race |
,yey or mouth Of West river where it emp- |
ties into the harbor.
On this then dry spit the captain says he |
has driven a wagon al high water the whole /
length and gathered beach ,plums from
bushes of considerable size, and there was
also other vegetation like beach grass and
sedge. Shortly after this date the Long |
Wharf was connected with the pier, a struc-
ture built many years before the wharf, and
it is the writer's opinion that the bridge and
wharf have assisted to turn the tide more
toward the center of the channel, and
has gradually washed away the sand spit
and that fifty years later the West river had
made Il breach towards Sandy Point, known
As the sluice which Captain Edwin Thomp
son, of Fair Haven West, tells him he sailed
through forty years ago in the packet Hun
,ress'' with a cargo of 100 tons of coal. and
-1naza1 1uam laaax n fact. y