New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-20
OF NEW BRIDGE
Features in Which 1t Surpasses Old
Brooklyn Structure.

That the Brooklyn Bridge after nearly gen.
Grafton of use. has endured as a hghwater
mark in the bridge line. at least in the greater
city. is no tribute to the skill and the dar-
ing of the engineers who planned it. That the
new bridge now surpasses in all important d.
mansions, and foot for foot, BILE for cable. out
classes the old signally, is perhaps the greatest
single description that be given of its mag
nitude as the greatest suspension bridge in the
world, surpassed in length of span only by the
Firth Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge in length falls just short
of 6,OOO feet. being $3.50 feet long The new
bridge, more than 1900 feet longer. has total
extent of more than 1900 feet. The old bridge
built before the age of trolleys has two road
ways now shared by vehicles and surface cars
alike. The new bridge carries its double
decks two roadways. each twenty-five feet wide
and each unobstructed by trolleys. Two double
track trolley roadways, two promenades, to the
one of the old bridge, each ten and a half feet
wide; two cycle paths, each seven feet wide, and
a central space for a double track or elevated
cars, give the new structure total width OF
us feet as contrasted with an So foot width
in the older structure.
When the Increased efficiency of the new
bridge in carrying traffic is reduced to figures,
its superiority becomes even more strikingly
the engineers estimate Will be carried by the
transit lines on the new bridge than the
old Against the hundred million who annually
cross the older bridge, one hundred and fifty
million will cross the new. The river span OF
the new bridge rs only five feet longer than that
Of the old, the figure for the former being 1000,
but the approaches make up the difference in
the length Of the newer structure, those of the
former measuring 1900 feet each, while the
Manhattan approach to the old bridge is only
1862 and the Brooklyn only 9I1
The towers of the Williamsburg Bridge, built
Of steel. rise 333 feet above high water mark,
90 feet higher than the stone towers of the
r3rool,Ivn Bridge while this height will be in
creased by 90 feet when the ornamental caps
are placed on the new structure The height
of the new bridge above the river in the exact
centre is 135 feet, the same height as the older
bridge The new bridges now in construction
will keep the same level.
The great cables which hold the steel frame
work measure Is inches in diameter. The four
cables contain Il. 5SS wires, and the sustaining
strength Of each of these cables is 22,2SO tons.
as contrasted with 1900 for the older bridge,
while the figures for the weight Of the two
structures between towers are 7,I1 and $3.50
tons respectively.
The " iIIian.sburg Bridge was begun in Oc-
tober. 1895, the first work being done on the
more than five years later, on April ., 190l
when. amid the salUtes Of the craft on the
waterfront, the two cables were holsted from
the river bed and the actual construction OF the
span began. On November II, 1902 a fire de-
stroved the wooden staging. breaking out on the
Manhatt an tower $50 feet from the East River,
burned along the cables and furnished one OF
The most spectacular contagrations in the his
tory of the city Little serious damage was
done to the main structure, however, and the
work was hurried forward although there were
many delays incident to the fire.
The cost Of the new bridge will reach about
S11 900 900. At the present time only the south
roadway is completed. Within a few days the
north roadway will be opened to pedestrians
and will serve for them until one of the foot
ways is completed. No arrangement has yet
been made for the letting Of the car tracks on
the new bridge. and the elevated structure ends
with the bridge at both ends. Delancey-st, at
the Manhattan terminus is TO be widened, and
the work is to begin soon. This street will be
widened by raZing tenement houses along the
solItherIy side Already hundreds of buildings
course of the bridge and the old region of Pow
erty Hollow is entirely destroyed. Plans for
a pushcart market under the Manhattan ap-
proach made by Street Commissioner
Wood bury. and a pushcart market IS now In
operation there.
Aside from its magnitude and the statistics Of
it's enormous size, interest attaches TO the new
structure through the fact that thirty lives were
lost in its construction. TWO killed In
the caissons at the outset of the work One Of
the superntendents. c. E. Bedell. lost his life
by falling from the steel superstructure to the
street below Throughout the whole period Of
the work the peril Of the worknen. who were
obliged 10 climb far aoft and out over the river,
doing their work from staging and slender
cables was illustrated by d steadily growing
death list This circumstance was noted by
Mayor Low in his speech. and he placed the
total death list at thirty.