Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-09-09
Biggest Bridge in the World.


idle boast that this structure will beat
the worlds record in bridge building.
Though it Will be a suspension bridge,
it will have the longest span of any
bridge of any kind, suspension or can
tilever. 1t will be the widest bridge
in the world. It's towers will be the
highest of any bridge in the world, its
foundations will be the deepest, and,
more than all, Its union station will
be the largest railway station in either
hemisphere. Moreover, it will be the
cheapest and quickest built bridge of
great size Atpresent, New York has
only one bridge over its waterways,
though another is building, and this
third one will be begun this fall.
Nevertheless, the metropolis takes no
second place among the cities Of the
world in point of bridges, for Brook
lyn 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 cantl-
lever 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 I ZOO foot
spans, beating the Brooklyn bridge by
100 feet.
But the New York and New Jersey
bridge will have a single span 1000
feet longer than either of the Forth
spans.
This bridge, soon to be connecting
link between two States, will be lSO
feet wide. What this means is shown
bv the fact that the Brooklyn bridge
is only S5 feet wide, and the new East
river bridge at Rivington street, New
York, will be only lis feet wide. As
fox the 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
Forty-ninth street, New York. From
the end of that street a viaduct will
sweep south and east to a vast union
station IN Broadway between Forty
ninth and Flfty-6rst streets. No rail-
way station in the world will begin to
approach this in size. It's front will
be ten stories high The station will
have 10 tracks, 20 for incoming and 20
for outgoing trains. 1t is expected
that all the railroads that concentrate
along the Jersey shore will unite on
the bridge tracks, and send their trains
over the structure at undimlnlshed
speed.
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 by comparison
with the height of the st. Paul build
ing, the highest in New York. This
sly-scraper is 3O8 feet high. The
towers of the Brooklyn bridge rise
above high water only 279 feet, and
even the towers of the new East river
bridge will be only 335 feet high.
The Brooklyn bridge is l35 feet
above high water and the new East
river bridge will be Of the same height.
But the North river bridge will cross
at $50 feet above high water. 1t is
interesting to know that when the
bridge is loaded on summers day
the sag will be eight or nine feet in
the centre Of the bridge.
For its size the North river bridge
will be the cheapest and the quickest
built of the great bridges Of the world.
1t will cost $I7,OOO,0O0. The struct-
ure of the Brooklyn bridge cost
50 900, 900, and its approaches Sc, ,O0O.-
600 more. The new East river bridge
will cost $7,5OO,OOO, with an untold
amount of approaches. And the Firth
of Forth bridge cost at its completion,
in 1889, $l6,35O,OOO.
The Brooklyn bridge took thirteen
years to build. The Union Bridge
company will complete the North river
bridge, it says, in FIVE years from the
time work is begun on the site.
The territory and population Prac-
tically added to New York by the
North river bridge is embraced in
25-mile radius from the New York
city hall. Based on the figures Of the
interstate commerce commission IN
1890, it is the estimate Of Charles II.
Swan, secretary and treasurer Of the
New York and New Jersey Bridge
company, that nearly 100000 PeO-
pie annually cross the North river un-
der the auspices Of the railroads. This
means 100000 persons day. Two
thirds of these the bridge people e1-
pect to get.