The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-07-14
CONGRESS STREET BRIDGE 50 PER
 CENT COMPLETED
UNDERWATER WORK IS ABOUT DONE, AND WORK ON SUPER STRUCTURE WILL SOON
 BEGIN
First of Steel Work Arrives

First of Steel Work Arrives
 Conterweights Attached to Roller Lifts
 Will Have Mass of 1,222,OOO Pound.
 Ledge of Rock in West Bank o1
 River Makes Slight Delay.
 Fifty per cent. of the work of build
 ing the new Congress street bridge was | completed yesterday and the above
 water work is not begun. The work
 opened February 10, and the Snare &
 Triest Go. are working their gangs in 1 shifts. During "A hours of each week day some work is being done.
 R. S. Stoddard. supervising engineer, , Is confident that the bridge will be
 completed on schedule time. providing no unforesoOu mishap occurs in con- nection with the underwater work. President Moses w. Manwaring of 1 the Bridge Commission, showed a Far nter rcrurter over the work yesterday. and took him down into one of the caissons where men are engaged in setting inc rough stone work IS feet
 below tEe surface of the river. MT.
 Wanncaring has been in all of the cais- sons when they were bumped into pO- sition on the river bottom, and has had the novel experience of being be- low water in a huge wooden box with several dozen two inch streams shoot ing through the sides of the box. Suf- iicient water is let into the caisson to sink it upon the piles driven into the bed of the river to receive it.
 Supt. J. c. Hain of the Snare & Priest Co. is also confident that the bridge is to be completed on schedule time. But the bridge builders have encountered some trouble on the west side of the river on the same spot that the first bridge showed a tendency to Slid dQ of 1odc nf olxc fhraf lies under the river. As soon as it was noticed that one corner of a re- taining wall on the west side was slid ing out, work was stopped on the west Abuttment and the work of driving more piles was commenced. The ad- ditional work will cost inside of S5,000. bEt by the discovery of it in time President Manwaring is confident that the fault will be remedied without the great cost that would have resulted if the bridge had been completed before the sliding retaining wall had been mo- tieed- This additional expenditure will bring the total cost up to between S305, 900 and S310O0 s.-
 The first of the steel work to arrive is the eight huge anchors which are to be embedded in the stone pier for weight of the Scherzer roller lift draw which is to be installed. They are shaped and about 20 feet long.
 One pier is finished. one other is 60. per cent. completed, the west abutt- ment is half done, the piling is driven for the remaining two piers and the abuttment and the two solid concrete retaining walls. each 200 feet long, to support the west approach, are com pleted.
 The abuttn1ent on the east bank of the river will only be two feet thick at the top as the soil on that side of the river is natural and the bank a great deal higher than on the west side where the shore is all made ground almost to Middle street.
 There is no doubt that a fine modern bridge to the north of the railroad bridge is going to improve the ap- gers who ride through on the train a better opinion of the city.
 The bridge when completed will be 4ss feet long. To get an idea of the weight necessary to raise them, one must ina zine 1,222. 900 pounds of con- crete and iron placed in the counter weights. The distance between the abuttments of the draw is 76 feet. There will be four arches outside of the draw, each spanning 65 feet
 The bridge commission is not going to be caught with leaky counter building the roller lift drawbridge across the Pequonnock. The rail- road is obliged to keep "a pump going all of the time to keep the water out or Iu6 pII- IAIlSlu0cI SlOuOdTQ udS arranged so that the counterweights will rest only one foot above mean high water If any water should get into the pit the operation of the bridge would not be interfered with and the water can easily be run off.
 A part of the underwater work which interests the president of the bridge commission is the location of the grillage work which is really the floor of the huge caissons. In the be- piles were driven in the bed of the river at the points where it was intended to locate the piers. There are 750 piles under each of the two big piers and 370 under each of the small ones. These piles are sawed off by a diver g feet below low wa ter. The grillage is made of four of 12 inch yellow pine timbers which are caulked as tight as the the caisSOn are fastened to the grill lage with huge iron hooks which can be loosed after the piers are built for the purpose of removing the sides The big box is f1oated over the piling and then the mason work is started l inside of it. Water is let in as the | work progresses for the purpose of | adding weight. Finally the grillage | rest and the building of the stone | work is pursued. The walls of the | piers are of solid granite and the in- | side is filled in with solid concrete re- nforced with a multitude of steel l rods. The large piers are 30x121 feet 1 at the bottom and the sides are taper | ed so that at the top they are 25x110 | feet. I~isi,B |
 Tor the carrying of the wires across | the bridge large duct will be left un- Ter the sidewalks.
 The telephone wires will run on the l south and the electric wires on the north side. The cables will be run town into the water alongside of the piers and will cross the channel in 6 trench "A feet below low water.
 Cofferdams are used in the construc- ion of the abuttments instead of caiss sons, and work of driving the blanks Or the sides of the east abuttment ,offerdam was commenced yesterday. l There were 300 piles driven for the lbuttments to rest upon.
 One of the marvels of the work is he rapidity with which the concrete S mixed. The mixer is mounted on