Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-09-08

Une HSHWttyE$& DIIuScs CIOSaAHS CAO
Mississippi river In yourcity on the
lime Of Broadway street, have meas
ured the dimensions Of the several
members OF the spans, and made q
careful computation Of the stresses
to which those members would be
subject, all for the purpose Of de-
termining the strength OF the struct-
+ ure. NJ \. $s Et&.st ", IA
The bridge was designed original
ly to carry a load Of but 1000 pounds
per lineal foot. In addition to its
own weight; this 10 much less than q
structure on q city street, particular
ly on main thorougfare such as
Broadway street, shuold be pro-
portioned for; and especially is this
true in view Of the location in the
near future, OF the railroad depots on
the west side Of the river, which will
undoubtedly add consid erably to the
am CUNT and weight or the traffic
passing over the bridge. s,. q. e. Y. Y
Besides, the bridge is now carrying
two sidewalks, and an s inch water
pipe with its frost protection and
water, n addition to the load I for
which it was originally designed.
The walks weigh about 1926 pounds
and the pipe about 1O7 pounds, or
together they equal about % per
cent Of the 1000 pounds for which the
bridge was porportioned. :
find many of the wooden menu
bers Of the bridge considerably de-
cayed; some to such extent that at
their ends but so per cent and in
some cases not more than 40 per
cent, Of the original sectional area of
the member is still sound and
efficient for service. u, &C. .:'., II, I
1t Is my opinion that the bridge is
unsafe for unrestricted traffic. In;
order to useit at all. with reason
able s.ftey,sit WIFI be necessary to
take such action az will prevent any,
excessive loading Of the bridge, by
the passage Of heavy vehicles, or the
providing Of vehicles, pedestrians,
cattle or other animals on any por-
ton Of Of the bridge; and especially
should vehicles and animals be made
to cross alta pace not faster than a
walk. S't@ r n: ,,kfH3 s =. l.
AS the wooden members Of the bridge
are already much decayed, and still
continue to, decay at an increasing
rate, the structure will rapidly become
more and more insecure, notwith-
standing the above precautions as
to the traffic, and am of the opin-:
ion that the bridge can not be safely
continued in service, even under the
most stringent restrictions, for
longer than the time necessary for.
building of a new bridge. -.
II As the preliminaries to construc-
ton of a new bridge, such as prep
,aration Of plans ETC., provision Of
iifunds,s advertising for bids, ETC., will
copsu me considerable time, and
bridge material cannot at this time
lie gotten promptly. I suggest that
the council take up this question Of
a new bridge Immediately.
: i do not advise that any attemp
be made to repair tine present bridge,
efficient repairs would be quite ex-
pensive, and would enable the city
to use the bridge safely, but for quite
restricted traffic. for but sh ort
period longer. The necessary re-
strictions to traffic would prove q
great hardship and annoyance, be
difficult to observe, and would be &C.
cOmpanied with a large risk of loss
of life. Respectfully submitted,
q. ..> CHAs. F. ,LOwETH.
As this was all the business to be
transacted by the council they ad-
journed to Sept. Ia.