Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-07-01
BELLOWS FALLS NEWS
NEW CONNECTICUT RIVER BRIDGE
Contracts Awarded for Its Construction
at a Cost Of Little Less Than $4,000
Span 500 Feet Iona.

Contracts Awarded for Its Construction
at a Cost Of Little Less Than s45, 600
Span 500 Feet Long.
Bellows Falls n North Walpole will
have a new bridge connecting them, and
work will begin at once under a contract
to have the structure completed ana ready
for travel four months from July l. The
bridge committee. of whom all of the ten
were present except one, decided the mat
ter and awarded the contract at a meet
ing held last Friday forenoon. y prelim-
mary contract, or agreement, was sign
ed, and the detailed contracts are this
week being drawn for execution. but the
plans for the work and purchase of ma
terial are going forward already.
The plans of Bridge Engineer Worces-
ter, fully approved by Engineer Snow of
the Boston e Maine railroad, who had
been called in as consulting engineer,
were adopted by the committee. They
call for a steel arch bridge which will
have the appearance of n truss bridge
with the arch above the roadway. The
arch will spring from solid masonry punt
as high as low water mark on each slue
of the river and at its edges. The span
will be about 500 feet in length with an
additional span of about 100 feet cross
ing the Rutland railroad at the height of
% feet above the rail. The top of the arch
in the centre of the river will be 90 rect
above the roadway. The general plan OF
the bridge is the same as one of the
bridges across Niagara river and the prin-
ciple is fully approved by the best OF
bridge experts.
The contractors of the iron part of the
structure are Lewis f. Shoemaker Il Co.
of Pottstown, Pa, at a price of S4O,o94'
The contractors of the stone work are
Joseph Ross & Co. of Boston, the same
people who nave during the past two
years lone many thousand dollars worth
of work for the Boston e Maine road on
the tunnels and subways in North wal
pole. They have done their largest JOB
within a few rods of where the east
end of the bridge reaches the shore, on
the abutments of the Boston & Maine
bridge across the Connecticut, and the
large under-pass near by, so they are
fully qualified to know all the conditions
existing at that point. Their price is
$4545, and the aggregate of the two con-
tracts leave the committee with a little
over $2500 of the appropriations of the
towns for any contingencies which may
arise hereafter. Shoemaker of the con-
tracing firm for iron work was formerly
connected with the Boston Bridge Co.,
who were also bidders, and is a man well
equipped for the work. His firm gave the
committee a bond in the sum of $40 900
for the faithful completion of the job.
There were a number of other bids pre-
scented to the meeting, and a number of
representatives of the different bridge
companies, but the parties to whom it
was awarded seemed the most favorable
of any and it was closed, much to the
satisfaction of the committee and of the
citizens both sides of the river.
The New Hampshire end of the bridge
will be nearly opposite the lower under
pass of the Boston & Maine railroads
track, near a large elm tree standing on
the bank of the river. The Vermont end
of the bridge will reach Rockingham
street about 80 feet north of the pair of
stairs leading from that street to the line
of the Rutland railroad. about 1873 feet
south of the ice house, and is now mark
ed by a large stake.