Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-06-30
BIGGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD.
To Join Jersey to New York within Fiv,
Years.

To Join Jersey to New York within Five
Years.
Work on the biggest bridge in the
world, the New York and New Jersey
Bridge, will begin this fall. 1T is no
idle boast that this structure will beat
the world g record in bridge b,silding.
Though 1t will be suspension bridge,
1t will have the longest span of any
bridge of any kind, suspension or can.
tilever. 1t will be the widest bridge in
the world. Its towers will be th high
est of any bridge in the world, its foun-
dations will be the deepest, and. more
than all, it's union station will be the
largest railway station in either hemi-
sphere. Moreover, it will be the cheap
est and quickest built bridge OF great
size. At present New York hs, only
one bridge over Its waterways, though
another is building, and this third one
will be begun this fall. Neveeshe.ess,
the metropolis takes no secot %iace
among the cities of the world in point
of bridges, for Brooklyn bridge still is
at the head Of the suspension bridges,
though the new East River bridge will
wrest this place from the old structure
at the opening Of the new century. AS
for the cantilever bridges, only one,
that over the Firth OF Forth, is able to
surpass the East River bridge that is to
be. This Scotland structure has two
1,7OO foot spans, beating the Brooklyn
Bridge by 105 and the new East River
Bridge by 100 feet.
BEATS EVERYTHING IN SIGHT.
But the New York and New Jersey
Bridge will have single span 1000
feet longer than eithel of the Forth !
spans.
This bridge, soon to be connecting
link between two States, will be 1870
feet wide. What this meansis shown
by the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge is |
only So feet wide, and the new East
River Bridge at Rivington Street, New |
York will be only 11S feet wide. As |
for that Scotland structure, it carries
only two tracks, while the North River
Bridge will carry six tracks. and per.
haps carriage roadway. The North |
River Bridge will cross the Hudson at |
Fifty Ninth Street, New York. From
the end Of that street a yiaduct will |
sweep south and east to vast union
station in Broadway. between Forty
Ninth and Fifty Fret Streets. No rail-
way station in the world will begin to |
approach this in size. Its front will be
ten stories high. The station will have
forty tracks, twenty for incoming and
twenty for outgoing trains. II is ex.
pected that all the railroads that con.
centrate along the Jersey shore ~hr
unite on the bridge tracks, and send
their tr ms over the structure at undi.
minished speed.
TOWERS NEARLY 900 FEET HIGH.
No bridge in the world has towers as
high as those from which will be sus.
pended the cables of the North River
bridge. They will rise 5S7 feet. What
this means is evident nv comparison
with the height of the st. Paul build
ing, the highest in New York. This
sky scraper is SOs feet high. The tow
ers of the Brooklyn Bridge rise above
high water only 278 feet, and even the
towers of the new East River Bridge
will be only 1856 feet high.
The Brooklyn Bridge is 1856 feet above
high water, and the new East River
Bridge will be of the same height. But
the North River Bridge will cross at
15O feet above high water. 1t is inter-
esting to know that when the bridge is
loaded on a summer g day the sag will
be eight or nine feet in the center of the
bridge.
WILL COST 100000.
For it's size the North River Bridge
will be the cheapest and the quickest
built of the world. 1t will cost ST..
100000. The structure Of the Brooklyn