New-York tribune., 1909-11-29
BLAME CON TRACTOR
ENGINEERS ON THE
GREENSBORO BRIDGE.
Wet@'s Erperts Charge Years
Delay to Disregard Of
Contract.

Responsibility for the failure or the
superstructure Of the Queensboro Bridge
20 meet the specified traffic requirements
under the contract by - per cent is not
the only serious charge made by the Con-
trollers engineers against the Pennsyl-
vania steel Company
Delay Of "A year or more in the COM
pletion of the bridge beyond the time
specified in the contract is also laid at
the door of the contractor. IL being al
legged that he failed To carry out contract
provisions requiring heavy steel false
work in the erection Of the two shore
spans and the island span of the super
structure.
The engineers say that instead Of pro-
viding $50 feet Of this falsework. as re-
quired by the contract, in order that
work Of erection upon the three spans
should be carried on simultaneously the
contractor supplied only 93S feet. and
used the same material for all three
spans
This. according TO the report. not only
resulted i'm a delay OF more than a year,
but il also enabled the contractor 10
save SlOoOoO for some six hundred feet
Of falsework called for in the specifica-
tions that was not supplied
II is also charged that the city Bridge
Department permitted the contractor TO
charge the fun contract price a pound
Tor 2o"oo,ooo pounds Of steel used in the
superstructure over and above the
amount bid upon when the contract was
awarded. without insisting that the Dro-
portion Of the contract price representing
the actual cost Of erection plant should
nave been deducted from the per pound
price allowed upon the extra weight OF
steel used in the structure.
IRIS hberality on the part of the Bridge
commissioner. it is claimed. added $40
Wn TO the contractors profits over and
above what was due under the terms of
the specifications
IAeSe ale cations are made in re-
port made TO the Controller by his en-
glneors on November Is. Comucn+ire,
on claim OF the Williams Enrinaarir,-
Company for $500 damages because ir.
contract work OF cutting out the interior
"I inc anchor wells was interferred with
Dy the PENNSYLVANIA Steel Company. III.
iat'er company pointed out that if such
interference had not been allowed tha
steel company would have had much
larger claim for damages on account OF
interference than that presented by the
Williams company.
If possibly prospective claims which
have been averted are 10 be considered
says the report Of the Finance Dapart-
nent engineers. then similar claims on
the other side ought also 20 be- given
hearing This general contract was on
tered into on November Is. 1898. and
was due % have been completed by Nav
/ I. 1906, - period Of thirty months II
was completed some twenty-seven
months later. The bids were on the
basis of s4.2oa.ooo pounds Of steel. the
final estimate carried some 10000 600
pounds.
The contract required that the two
+ shore spans and the island span will be
erected upon falsework which shall be-
maintained IN position until the TWO
river spans are Connected This would
F have required some l.550 feet Of false
work of an exceedingly heavy and TX
rensive character As permitted 10 be-
built by the Bridge Department. only
CPS feet of such supporting structurr
was required il being provided hrst for
tha island sTan % "a length If $50 feet.
then taken down and used or the shore
spans 20 that extent with some 290 ad-
+ 5itoual feet that had 10 be provided
/ This involved clean saving Of 600 feet
T - this expensive supporting structure.
/ included in che price bid per pound OF
. u-.af a-1 q 1al.v 10, bride cov7rraricrl
I ~ year or more.
Further. the plant on this WORK is re-
puted 10 have cost $500. 900. and the saw
ing OF six hundred feet of faIsework can
4 reasonably be assumed NJ 100000. leav-
inz a fixed charge 70 have been included
in the bid on this account Of S56o.0OO. or
on the S4.310.00O pounds bid upon. pro-
portion OF siNty-six one-hunredths Of
cent a pound % be returned
But 105.2GO 900 pounds 4 material
were actually covered in the final esti-
mate. an increase over the amount bid
on Of 20.s0o.g00 pounds. each OF which
pounds carries its sixty-six one hun
DIRE Iths Of a cent a pound reimbursement
for an Increased outlay over that esti-
mated that never occurred. This would
aggregate in all an increase over antici-
patory profits Of $4,000. and 10 this
amount must be added the 500. 600 saw
ing on falsework.
The possibly prospective claim for
delay on account Of interference by the
Williams contract appears quite insig-
nificant in the face OF this liberality on
the city's part"