The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-17
NIAGARA'S NEW BRIDGE.

1t will be One af the Wonders of the
World-A Marvel of Engineering.
: The new metal arch bridge ut Niagara
Falls will be noteworthy in two respects.
The new bridge is to be built over the old
suspension structure, without interrupt
tion to the traffic on the latter. The span
from end pier to end pier will be $40 feet,
making. it the largest arch span in the
world, says the Railroad Gazette.
The suspension bridge now in use which
has been familiar to all the visitors to the
great natural wonder for forty years will
be kept in place until the new arch is
ready, as it would be impossible to con-
struct false works over the Niagara gorge
to sustain structure of this class.
The span will have a rise of I'D feet
from the level of the piers at the screw
backs to the centre of the ribs at the
crane of the arch, which point is 40 feet
above low water. The depth of the trus-
SEES is 26 feet, and they will be 6S.7 inches
apart The bridge will carry one floor,
As feet wide, divided longitudinally into
three parts. On the middle portion,
which is % feet inches wide, will he two
trolly tracks. Each side of these tracks
will be roadway for carriages 5 feet
wide, and outside of these, raised 6 inches
from the level of the roadway will be
footpaths
The construction of this remarkable
span is from plans of l.. l.. Buck, engi-
neer of the new East river bridge between
New York and Brooklyn and the author
of the plans by which the railroad sus-
pension bridge at Niagara was replaced
by an arched bridge
The approaching or thanking spans will
be 100 feet long on the American side and
2l0 feet on the Canadian side. The total
tpl Z he will 1,a al,
1000 600, 600 pounds. Every confidence
is expressed in Mr.. Buck ability TO carry
out his plans. The replacing of the rail
road bridge by another without an hours
interruption of business was one of the
engineering feats of the decade.
Those who have not seen the great
structure at Niagara which is intended TO
replace will hardly realize the stupendous
character of the undertaking. Imagine
the task of replacing the simplest sort of
bridge without interrupting traffic, and
then add about 900 per cent TO the diff
Guilty. This will give something of an
idea of what confrontS engineers and
builders.
In an undertaking of this nature the
slightest error might be productive of
infinite disaster. Every measurement
must he accurate to hairs breadth
Every portion of the great arch must per-
lorln lts particular share of the great
combination that will be one of the mar
wells of the world
All that is done must be accomplished
quickly, for in affairs of this nature time
Is, indeed, money. Every man who can
be utilized will join the army of construc-
ton. Perhaps no work of recent years
has required, or will yet need. more skill
ed labor In fact, in bridge building it's
becoming unsafe to utilize labor of any
other class The bridge, when complete
will in truth be a work of genius in point
of construction, as well as point of CON
ception.
The work of preparing the material for
the great structure has been in progress
for some time, as little can be accom-
plished in an enterprise of this nature
until the preliminaries are complete
When the effort of placing the different
parts of the bridge in position is begun
Niagara will be one of the busiest of busy
places.