Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-21

| The clear spaces, whether under the arches
or the trestle spans. to be u feet in height
| SO as to accommodate all ordinary traffic tina
may cross the flats. The designs shown arr
continued until the western edge of the flats il
reached at the junction of the roadway an(
the railroad, where the former rises on an easy
| grade to the level of the latter. which theI
crosses the river on an overhead trestle bridge
OF nine spans, counting the draw as one span
which is between the fifth and seventh SPANS
| counting from the Washington side.
THE BRIDGE, VIEWED FROM THE SHORES,
| would present about the same appearance as i
| does now until one approached it closely. wher
the finer, stronger work would be apparent a
once, besides which there would be a total,
| different sort OF structure in the part tina
crosses where the road would be at the top o.
| the bridge with nothing overhead This will
undoubtedly be a very handsome structure In
both parts, as it is probable that the arched de-
| sign would be adopted instead of the trusses
which, though quite as strong as the arches
are not so suitable, as far as appearance goes
when the bridge is designed to cross solid
ground. The small bridges across the Wash
ington channel are designed in quite an orna-
mental manner to harmonic with the remain
der OF the plans They are to be similar and
are shown in the first cut.
In removing the old bridge it will be neces.
sary to take from the bed OF the Virginia chan
mel vast quantity of stones and other hard
material which have been put into the water
from time to time to protect the piers of the
bridge from being washed out by the rush OF
the waters at spring time, when the danger OF
frcshets Is greatest. These piles have grown
as the bridge has accumulated years of age
and now they occupy a large part Of the space
Col. Hams has IN his Office drawing which
shows these piers, as determined by a recen,
sounding which he made, and ii is thus shown
that the channel in this part of the river is a
cnrrI tiOn Of -
pier, which materially impede the free flow OF
the Hood water. As the bridge is now built il
crosses the river at an angle, and this fact in
connection with the large sweeping curve
which the stream takes Just above, makes i,
probable that the currents are made to cut
across the clear space IN such a way that al
least a third of the available room for the pas.
sage of the water is lost.
This will all be remedied if the new bridge is
built. The piers to be sunk are to have suffi-
Gent foundation to render such additional sun
ports above their bases unnecessary, while the
turning OF them at the proper angle to the
stream will have no little effect upon the mat
ter OF the high water in the spring
There Is also another benefit to be gained by
the proposed plan, and this is the reduction OF
both of the curves by which the tracks 90 upon
the bridge. This is more apparent on the Vir-
glnla side, where the curve is diminished n
great deal On the Washington side the curve
Is now one OF the worst places in the road.
where there is also u severe grade which rem
ders II necessary for incoming freight trains 10
put on all power just before leaving the bridge
In order to get around the bend
Col. Hains estimates that the wagon road
across the flats from the foot OF Nth street.
alongside the railroad. including the small
bridge across the Washington channel, would
cost about $4,000.
AS the existing bridge could be utilized
throu shout the construction OF the new one il
would not be likely that the traffic between
the city and Virginia need be interrupted at
any time. so that the passage OF trains would
point as il is often necessary in the buildino
OF new bridges in place of old ones to abso9
lutely bar the roads that used the old ones. and
thus put an absolute stop to all traffic. In the
present case this would be great calamity.
as all Of the southern connection of the city is
by means Of this bridge and railway.