New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-12-02
CITY MAY BUILD NEW
SlO,OOO.OOO BRIDGE
TO CARRY CATSKTLt
WATER OYER HUDSON.
Efforts to Tunnel Under RiJ6r Er.
pected to PrOUe FruitIess, az Rock
Bottom Is Too Deep. !

It begins to look as If the city OF New York
will have to build S1O.OOO.O0O suspension
bridge across the Hudson at Storm King near
Peekskin to carry the giant conduit OF the new
CatskilI water supply from the west 70 the east
bank of the Hudson.
Professor William II. Burr has turned in 10
the Board of Water Supply q tentative report
the size and cost of the proposed bridge
His figures are regarded as conservative by the
commissioners. 1t is understood that he esti-
mates the bridge will cost around SS.OO.OOOs
with S1O,OOO.OOO outside figure
II built which now seems probable. the bridge
will have span Of from leo To 400 feet IN
the clear. with piers set well out from either
shore. At first II was thought that the span
would have to be fully 1000 feet. but the cost
of this would he practically prohibitive, and a
shorter span is planned The height from
the middle OF the bridge to the water will be
$50 feet and the structure viii be strong enough
to carry wagon and streetcar traffic, although
il is not expected that any streetcars viii use
II for many years.
The Board OF Water Supply is greatly disap-
pointed over its failure thus far to find a solid
rock bottom to the river through which TO bore
the conduit. which will be Il feet 8 inches in
diameter and lined with concrete.
After various spots the banks OF the Hud-
son had been inspected, the board selected the
site at Storm King for the proposed crossing
The channel is comparatively narrow there. and
the rock seems to be less faulty than at other
places. Before Storm King was chosen the en-
gineers made many borings M and down the
river for a distance Of several miles each way
None of these borings was successful in 50 far
: striking solid rock was concerned
The test borings al Storm King are now down
about seven hundred feet without finding solid
rock. If the borings at one thousand feet show
the same kind of formation it Will be practically
even choice between a pressure tunnel and a
bridge. The engineers do not feel like going be-
low the surface of the Hudson River deeper than
400 feet. If a rock bottom can be found at Z.
depth less than LOO feet it is certain that it
will cost less to build pressure tunnel than a
bridge.
1t is understood that a pressure tunnel built
to last for ages. without any serious dan
ger of needing repairs viii cost less than s. 600
600 while a suspension bridge $500 feet IT
length will cost from SSOOOOOO to S1OOOoOOO
Another possibility is a great pipe line the
bed of the Hudson This. however. is the third
choice. the engineers favoring a pressure tunnel
if they can get it and suspension bridge IS a
second choice
The bridge across the Hudson at Storm King
is not the only huge engineering problem con-
fronting the board Proposals are asked for
wash borings for a distributing system running
from the Hill View reservoir near Yonkers
three hundred feet deep under Manhattan Island
and under the East River to Brooklyn From
this deep main there will be frequent uptakes
to get the water into domestic use The
crossing under the Harlem will be between Sew
enth avenue and Washington Bridge. and under
the East River between the Brooklyn and Will
iamsburg bridges. The pressure will be suffi-
cient TO send the water to the tops of twenty
story buildings. making IL unnecessary for the
skyscrapers to install pumping plants of their
own