The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-03
NEW BRIDGE
THAT AT WILLIAMSBURG IS A
 MARVEL.
Fee+ures in Which It Surpasses the Old Brooklyn Bridge-Longest Span in the World
 Save One.


 lv A generation of use, has endured as h,yb water mark in the bridge line' at least in Greater New York city, Is no mean tribute to the skill and the darihs of the engineers who planned IL. !hat tbe New Williamsburg bridge. openeo on December 19 now surpasses Tn all ihi- nortant dimensions, and, foot TOT ioo.' rable for cable, outclasses the old slgnal- ly. is perhaps the greatest single oesciip- world surpassed in length or span oh,y ton that can be given or US masii'tuue as the greatest suspension orioee III lne Inv the Firth bridge, says The New 1orh Tribune ...
 The Brooklyn bridge in length falls just short of 6OOO feet, being 5,9S9 feet long. The new bridge more than l,zVo rect longer. has a total extent of more than 200 feet. The old bridge, built before the age of troleys, has two road"ays' now shared by vehicles and surface cars alike. The new bridge carries on US double decks two roadways. each twenty five feet wide and each unoostructeu oS trolIeys. Two double track trolleys' two prominades, to the one of the old 'br1oge' each ion and a half feet wide; and q cen traI snace for a doubA track or elevated cars give the new structure total wldtn of 11s feet, as contrasted with an So looI 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 manifest Fifty millions more ot messengers, the engineer estimates, VIII be carried by the transit lines on the ne" bridge than on the old. Against the nuh- dred million who annually cross the oluel bridge. one hundred and htty mlilon VIII cross the new The river span of the new bridge is only five feet longer than that of the old, the figure for the former being 500 but the approaches make up the difference in the length of the newer structure, those of the former measuring 500 feet each, while the Manhattan ap- nroach to the old bridge is only 1,562 and the Brooklyn only 97l.
 The towers of the Williamsburg bridge built of steel. rise 333 feet above high wated mark 90 feet higher than the stone towers of the Brooklyn bridge while thls height will be increased by 70 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 con struction will keep the same level.
 The great cables which hold the steel framework measure IS inches in diameter. The four cables contain 41,5SS wires, and the sustaining strength of each of these cables is 22.2S0 tons, as entrusted with F GOO for the older bridge, while the figures for the weight of the two struct- ures between towers are I11 and 6,62O tons, respectively.
 The Williamsburg bridge was begun in October 1896, the first work being done on the foundations of the New York towers It was more than five years later, on April g. 1901, 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 H. 1902 fire des- troyed the wooden staging. breaking out on the Manhattan tower, $50 feet from the East River, burned along the cables and furnished one of the most spectacular confiagrations in the history of the city. Little serious damage was done to the man 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 $l1. .000, 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 footways Is completed. No arrangement has yet been made for the letting of the car tracks on the new bridge at both ends. Delaney Street. at the Manhattan terminus, is to be widened. and the work Is to begin soon. This street will be widened by raging tenement houses along the southerly side. Already hundreds of Buildings have been destroyed further east along the course of the bridge and the old region of Poverty Hollow is en- tirely destroyed Plans for a pushcart market under the Manhattan approach were made by Street Commissioner Wood bury, and pushcart market is now in nr1nra tinn fharn