Omaha daily bee., 1893-05-26

seem TO De strange statament, Dut ~ Is nt'
orally true
rhe fact Is that the Omaha Bridge &
Terminal Railway company Is building two
bridges at one and tho same time. IL must
be understood that IL requires great deal
OF money TO bridge the Missouri, and it Is
therefore essential that bridge be com
pleted as quickly as possible and put TO
earning something in the way of return.
IL was not until confronted with the
| demand Of the bridge company for a struc-
ure 10 be ready for operation at the earliest
possible moment that Engineer Waddell
went to work on something never before at
tempted. md as result the present plans
were evolved. The successful execution OF
the scheme could not have been consum-
mated put for the fact that the structure is
draw bridge, and 1t will be seen how simple
| after all is the plan that gives the company
a bridge across one of the most treacherous
streams on top of earth, nearly year sooner
than it could have been secured in any other
| way.
In order to carry out these plans II was
| necessary to do something never before done,
and what was supposed by bridge engineers
| engineers TO be an impossibility. That was
the driving of seventy-foot piles fifty feet
| into the bed of the Missouri. Here again 1T
was that the effective little jet got in its
work, and by its help the great piles we're
down with comparatively little trouble.
| The plans call for a temporary structure,
| of which the draw span is part. The per-
| manent bridge will span the river at right
| angle, but when set at its place in the tenn
porary structure the draw span will lie at
variance with its other position by about
eleven degrees, the river end being about
| fifty feet further down stream and the land
| end the same distance farther up the bank
| The span can be swung into position for
| either bridge at moments notice, IL being
| possible TO make the change in less than
| minute, even under adverse circumstances
| The temporary structure is built in three
spans. each 1872 feet in length, for which
| four piers are required, one of them being
| the one on which the river end of the draw
will also rest, with another temporary. pier
| on the bank for the other end of the draw.
1t was suggested in the presence of En-
| gineer Waddell that the company might be
| so well pleased with its temporary structure
| that it would forget to complete the perma-
| nent bridge in accordance with the plans.
Plans For the Permanent Bridge.
''If all we wanted was temporary bridge,
would we have invested half n million dollars
in "a pier and draw span like thsl" he in
| CURED. mo, the bridge will be completed
in its entirety in strict accordance with the
plans. 1t will cost about $4,000 or 100000
extra to put in the temporary bridge, but we
will get IL in operation by the 1st of Septem-
Der, which will bring us in the earnings of
| several months that we would not
otherwise get. Not only that, but it will
enable us to build the remainder OF the per-
manent structure at n greatly reduced cost
rushing work under adverse conditions
| swells the cost Of bridge enormously, and
this temporary bridge will do away with
that entirely. Ordinarily there is nothing
| in sight until such structure is completed,
and added to this is the necessity of
duplicating a great deal of expensive
machinery in order to put down all the piers
at once, or of rushing work at all times that
that heavy loss is entailed by the carrying
away of false work two or three times by
the ice, the spring rise and the June flood
By following the plan we have adopted, we
avoid all of that difficulty. We speedily
get bridge in operation, which
ness that would be offered if the
permanent bridge was completed and
we are also enabled to proceed with the re-
mainder of the permanent work at our
leisure and at such times as are most suit
able for it's advancement under favorable
conditions. These temporary piers do not
go to bedrock, but so far as strength and
soidity are concerned they could not be
they will not last forever, but they are good
fer at least seven years. The
piling will rot in time, but
the permanent structure will be completed
long before that time arrives. Two more
piers will have to go down to bedrock for the
permanent structure, and 1t was at first in
tended to put in three, but the plans were
somewhat changed. A dyke has been con-
SITuCISu WHICH LnTOWS Uuc river OUT dS lar
as the pier at the Nebraska end of the fixed
span, and we will put In piling from there to
the beginning of the grade instead of an ad-
ditional span. At the end of the tempo
rary bridge we will have about 400 feet
of heavy piling reaching to the high bank
The temporary piers are now in position.
They are l6x55 feet in size and around each
is built brush mattress eighteen inches
thick on the bed of the river. This prevents
washing around the pier, and as the river
Shpa "a tho edge of the m lat.
ter settles down, forming a covered crown
all around the pier and sloping in all direc-
tions away from the same. The mattress
around the draw pier is S0xl20 feet in size.
The pier stands in about fifteen feet OF
water, though the depth has varied since
we have been at work. on it from nine to
twenty-five feet The temporary bridge lies
on a grade from the north end of the draw
span to the Nebraska shore, and will be
about twenty-five feet above the water.
Cost of the Bridge Complete.
''The cost of the bridge when completed
will be about $l,20O,oO0 including the extra
cost of the temporary structure. If will be
seventy feet in width, and its weight will
be about 1000 pounds OF steel to the foot
over the entire length of the two great
| spans, which is 10S0 feet. The contracts
were let September and 2 of last year and
work was begun on October l. 1t will prob,
ably be two years before the per
manent structure is completed, as work
can DC done more deliberately after the
temporary bridge is in operation. The per-
manent bridge will have two railway tracks
in the center and on either side will be n
motor track. Each motor track will afford
a passage way for wagons and outside these
will be the foot walks for pedestrians. The
temporary bridge will be Il narrow one, with
one motor rail between the railroad rails
and the other outside, and the wagon road
will also be there, so that speed over that
structure may at times have to be reduced
to II walk, but on the permanent bridge each
class of travel (eXcepting motor and wagon)
will be by itself and no limit will be placed on
speed. Trains can run over that at rate of
fifty miles an hour and no questions asked.
The draw will be operated by two forty
horsepower motors, which will be fed by
storage batteries of the most modern type
Electricity will be supplied by the motor
wires running over the bridge. The draw
can be opened by this machinery and closed
in eight minutes, even in a high wind, and it
can be opened in five minutes in the face of
hurricane, although it is far from proba BILE
that we would ever be called upon to open
1t at such time, as under such conditions
Missouri river boats are generally tied to
the bank"
MIR. Potter on the Company's Intentions