The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-10-23
NEW YORK'S new BRIDGE
"a Mile AMI Three-Quarters Long-To
Cos $I2. OOO, 600.

A Mile AMI Three-Quarters Long-To
Cost SIG 200, 600.
No better illustration of the rapidity
with which the art of bridge ~construc-
ton has been advancing in his country
could be obtained than will be present
ed by these two bridges of almost equal
standing only a mile apart.
The Brooklyn bridge is. comparatively
a new structure. 1t was
|oY ened for traffic in 1854. Neverthe-
same principle. will be very different
in general appearance.
The contrast that will appeal most
I~strikingfy to the eye in a comparison
OF the two structures will be in the ap-
Ipearance of the great overs carrying
the cables on which the bridge rests.
In the Brooklyn bridge these towers
are o. solid masonry -Or their null
height, and their dimensions bring
home to every beholder an idea OF
and strength. Firm as the
eternal hills whence We came, they
seem to say. In the new bridge the
masonry piers will extend only a short
distance above the water. The towers
will be of skeleton steel construction.
Slender and per springing away to
the height of 335 feet, they will look
light and fragile eside the solid
stone Of the other bridge But steel
plates n angles are as durable as
masonry, much cheaper, more elastic
and easier to erect. OF the Brooklyn
bridge. the towers weigh five times As
much as all the rest Of the structure
together. OF the East River bridge
they will weigh about the same as the
n Crn~ - -~~~I
for stone in bridge work is an Ameri-
can development 1t has made Ameri-
can bridges the lightest and cheapest
in the world.
Next to the tower the most unique
feature Of the new bridge will be Il.
great Stiffening truss which will extend
from pier to pier. In the past one diff
Guilty with suspension bridges has been
the swaying Of the main span, rue to
the force Of the winds or the shocks in
cident to traffic. The truss will pre-
vent this, will give stability to the
and will relieve the strain
which otherwise would come upon the
towers and cables, 1t will be Of steel,
As feet high, a great metal fence along
side Of the bridge roadway.
The work of building the East River
bridge may be said to have begun in
1892, when the charter for 1t was rant
ed. 1t was not until three years later,
however. hat the plans were COM
pleted n the legal difficulties cleared
away. Then the cities of New York
n Brooklyn, at that time two differ
ent municipalities, too up the matter
and turned it over to a commission
which has had it in charge since that
time. In the spring of 1897 the work
of actual construction was begun and
has since gone steadily on. The con-
struction Of the bridge began, Is one
might naturally suppose. with the lay
ing of the foundations. But these have
been built, contrary TO natural Suppo-
Sition, from the top downward. The
task of carrying the foundation to bed
rock, beneath h water n mud of
the. river has been accomplished by
.caissonS such as are now used in all un-
derwater work of this nature.
The tops of the four masonry piers
of the completed bridge are to be %
feet above high water. The towers will
rise above them to the height of 335
feet, OIL 60 feet higher than those OF
the Brooklyn bridge. The object in
having loftier towers is to give a sharp
.er DETECTION to the cables carrying
the bridge platform than there is in the
older bridge.
The main span of the bridge will be
by Jour cables. each one IS
inches in diameter. The strands of the
cable are to be three-SixteenthS of an
inch in diameter, and $4,000 of them
will be required to make one of the
big supports. Each separate wire has
a sustaining power of wv and one
half tons, which makes the full cable
strength equal to a strain of 10, 900
tonS.
The cables will pass over the tops of
the steel tower on great sliding sad
dies. Their weight and hat which they
will carry will be held in position by
immense a~nchorages placed between
500 and 600 feet back Of the bridge
piers on each shore. These anchorages
are of masonry, 100 by $50 feet, and to-
gether will weigh when completed 160,-
900 tons, or IL times Is much as the
main span of the bridge itself.
The new bridge will be a mile and
three-eighths in length, 1875 feet above
the water in h center and 118 feet
wide. 1t is intended to carry two ele-
waited railroad tracks, four surface car
tracks, carriage ways, foo and bicycle
paths. 1t is estimated that the cost of
the bridge proper will be 81. SOC, 900, but
with the expense Of approaches the cost
will more nearly reach $12, 900, OOO.-
Earl w. Mayo In Ainslee's.