The Wichita daily eagle., 1903-10-24
BIG STEEL BRIDGE
ON WEST DOUGLAS
That Is What Mayor Mclean
Says Wichita Needs.
WOULD COST $4,000
Stone Piers Would Obstruct
Channel of River.

The proposition OF County Commission
er Redfeld to have the county build a
new bridge over the Big Arkansas river
on Douglas avenue in this CITY, is caus-
/ ing a good deal of talk. Mr. Redield's
reason for having the county build the
bridge was that Wichita paid very nearly
one-half the county taxes and in this
way built one-half the bridges in the
county while building her own bridges
in the city
The present Douglas avenue bridge over
The Big river belongs to the county and
the suggestion is to have the county re-
place it with a bridge that will be a
credit to the city. The proposition does
not seem to meet with any objection
from The people in the county outside of
the city.
Mayor Mclean said last night that he
was going to call on the county commits
sioners and have talk with them about
the bridge. The mayor thinks the bridge
ought to be built at once, as the present
structure is not sufficient for the amount
Speaking of the matter last night he
said:
This city needs a new bridge over the
Arkansas on Douglas avenue, and needs
it badly. The present structure is be-
hind the times and is not adequate to the
amount of traffic that must pass over il.
The floor Of oak boards is soon worn
out and there must be constant repairs
which cost a good deal of money.
THE old bridge was poorly construct
ed in the first place, and the plans were
not such as they should have been. The
excessive vibration of the bridge is con-
stantly wearing it out and shortening
the life of The steel work. 1t was too
light even for a country bridge OF equal
spans.
When the bridge was built the stone
piers We're laid on wooden piles driven
into the sand. Since that time the mar
rowing of the river channel has caused
1t to wash deeper and thus exposed a
couple of feet of the piling, which are
rapidly decaying. ami il is time for the
people to think of new bridge.
when this matter was first spoken OF
l was in favor of stone pier bridge with
arches but after thinking the matter
over and talking with practical engineers
l have changed my mind on that. The
big stone piers would take up too much
space in the channel, which would have
the same effect as the further narrowing
OF the channel. There may be time
when the present channel will not more
than carry off the water"
after some reflection 1 am now satis-
fed that what we need is stub girder
steel bridge with a driveway of 35 feet
and the floor paved the same as the
street so that people could hardly tell
the difference between the bridge and the
street when driving over it. Instead OF
the stone piers the bridge ought to rest
on stub cylinders driven into the sand
and filled with concrete. That would
make strong. durable bridge and the
steel piers would not obstruet The pass
age of the water to any perceptible ex-
tent.
There has been a good deal said about
the cost OF such bridge as ought to be
builtsn,but 1 am pretty sure that the
kind 81 a bridge that l have mentioned
would not cost to exceed $4,000. Bridges
do not cost as much as some people
seem TO suppose. We built the Seneca
street bridge for sl.sOo-well. it is a bridge
and does the duty of taking people over"
George NJ. Dickson was down looking at
the old bridge yesterday, and he said
that a good bridge at that place would
make Douglas avenue look like a solid
street clear to the West Side and would
he the greatest Improvement ever made
TO make Wichita look like a city.