Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-27
NEW BRIDGE |NSERV|CE
First Train to Pass on North
Bound Track.
SOUTH TRACK OPEN
THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
BUILDS HANDSOME STRUCTURE.
Costs Approximately $75o,CoO and
Three Years Occupied in Construc-
tion-The Old Bridge.
SOUTH TRACK OPEN


structure at o'clock tomorrow morning
The southbound track was opened week
ago. and when train No 80 of the South
ern railway steams across the bridge to-
ward Washington tomorrow, the last step
in the completion of this great improve
ment will have been taken. The new
bridge, costing approximately $75O,0O0, and
occupying three years In its constructlon'
is the realization of one OF the 1ondest
hopes of Westinghouse, the evolution
into reality of dream which has peen re-
current at intervals for many decades. Inc
builders and architects of the new prloge
promise that ice gorges and the consequent
floods will be eliminated in future, that
trains may steam boldly across the river
without fear of being precipitated INTO the
muddy waters beneath, and the citizens OF
the national capital may now point to their
railroad viaduct with pride instead OF
shame.
Pratt Truss Bridge.
The new bridge is of the type known as
the Pratt truss bridge, developed by Mr.
Pratt the engineer of bridges of the Penn
sylvania railroad Its total length Is
2.52s feet 6 inches. There are twelve piers
built of granite from the quarries at Port
Deposit. Md. There are eleven spans be-
sides the draw Span which is virtually
two spans, the ends resting on the pivot
pier being connected by tie bars at the top
so that when their outer ends are swung
away from the two piers on either side OF
the draw they counterbalance each other.
Their construction is varied from that of
the other spans in order to meet this
strain, the connecting ends being higher
than the outer ends All engines and ma
chinery for the operation of the draw
have been installed and are in working
order. They are situated in a small house
a a
draw, about thirty-six feet above the
railroad tracks. Without the steel rails
of the tracks which are to cross the
bridge each of the other spans is sepa-
rate from adjoining ones and not con-
nected in any way, merely resting end to
end upon the supporting piers. If a force
sufficiently potent were ever eXerted one
might be entirely swept away without
disturbing the others.
The Old Long Bridge.
The old Long bridge is only 60 feet east
of the new structure at the District end,
but when the Virginia side is reached there
is a space Of 26O feet between the bridges
This change of direction was decided upon
in order to bring the line of the new via
duct at right angles with the current in the
channel of the river, resulting in less OBJ
struction to the flow of water by the piers
In time of freshets and floods this is con-
sidered to be a very important item. There
are many more piers in the old bridge than
in its successor, and as the Long bridge is
200 feet shorter, the advantage of the new
scheme is readily SEEN The danger from
ice gorges will be greatly lessened and
much more room will be available for the
passage of all kinds of drift
There is a clear distance of 211b feet be-
tween the bottom of the floor beams of the
pennsylvania bridge and the surface of the
water at low tide, which will enable most
tugs and launches to pass the bridge with
a he 1rlr TI,a r;
between low water and the stringers of the
old spans is between 10 and Il feet The
tops of the rails on the old bridge, which
was nearly submerged by the food of 1885
were Is feet above low water and those
on the new one are 271a feet above that
level.
The new draw affords a clear channel
each side of the pivot of more than 100 feet.
Whlch Is about twice the width of the Old
Draw channels The draw span Is $50 feet
inches in length, and weighs in the neigh
borhood of 600 tons. There are seven spans
north of the draw and four to the south
beginning at the north end of the bridge
there are two spans measuring 2U3 feet u
inches, and four with a length of PIG feet
} inches. South of the draw come two
spans, PIG feet inches, then two of 10 feet
3 inches.
Regarded as Unsafe.
Occasions have arisen from time to time
for many years to emphasize the fact that
the old bridge has outlived its usefulness
Nearly every spring floods threaten its de-
struction, and in 1889 it was saved from
being washed away by crowding heavily
loaded freight cars upon 1t. If this step
had not been taken promptly, engineers ad-
nit the Long bridge then would have passed
into history
The practica blity of saving the bridge
was questioned at the time, because the
damage done in the lower section of the
city by the water shifted upon it by the
hid iDhf hay la1 he
cost of a new bridge. At that time it
served as a veritable dam, by reason of the
fact that in order to protect the piers from
ice in the river, stone had been piled about
them, narrowing the total clear passage
way of the river by about one-thlrd Be
sides enormous amount of driftwood
caught and held against the structure,
number of canal boats houses, and even a
large schooner, broken from its anchorage
at Georgetown, were heaped up against the
bridge. In 1881, during a small freshet.
which would not have been of much conse-
quence otherwise, an ice gorge formed at
the bridge and after deluging the city,
broke through and destroyed three spans of
the structure The flood of 1877 was the
greatest recorded before that of 1883. the
record height attained by the former being
three feet lower than that OF the latter.
Congress Takes Action.
Again in 1894 gorge was threatened. and
radical action was taken by the citizens.
came apparent in 1901, when Congress
passed an act providing for the replacement
of the Long bridge by two new ones, to be
at least 500 feet apart, one for the transit
of railroad trains and the other for vehicles
and pedestrians. The former was to be
erected by the railroad company and the
latter by the government engineers, plans
for each to be submitted for the approval
of the Secretary of War. A commission
was Immediately appointed to formulate
plans and specifications and estimates for
the highway bridge, and subsequently all
questions pertaining to the establishment
of the railway bridge were submitted to the
same board. The board was composed of
Lieut.. Col. Charles ]. Allen Capt Edward
Burr, Capt Lansing II. Beach and Lieut..
G. NJ Hoffman. The board gave several
hearings to citizens whose interests were
involved by the selection of site or the de-
cison of other details relating to the prof.
ect. Those present at these hearings in
cluded two bridge engineers. One of these
represented company making a roller lift
bridge; the other advocated different types
of structures. Mr.. w. A. Pratt, engineer
of bridges for the Pennsylvania railroad,
submitted plans which were followed sub