Putnam patriot., 1911-05-12
NO l9
Threatened to Enloin Work on Bridge

Threatened t0 Enj0in Work on Bridge
 Two of our representative citizens,
 who take considerable interest in pub
 lie affairs. and who have been watch ing the progress of the new concrete | bridge in the process of construction
 over the Quinebaug river, became con
 vinced that the work was not being l carried out in accordance with the way they construed the meaning of the vote of the town passed at the town meet ing, October 3rd, 1910. Their most se-
 rious criticism was that the roadway on the bridge is not 2s feet wide to cor.
 respond to the width of Bridge street but that it Is two feet narrower than said street.
 These men interviewed the select men regarding the matter and object- ed to the way the wishes of the citi- zens, as expressed by their vote, was being carried out, stating frankly that they did not believe the work was be- ing done in accordance with the vote of the town. They talked the matter over seriously even going so far as to intimate that unless change was made an injunction would be sought to restrain proceedings until the mat l ter could be investigated.
 The selectmep contended that they
 were carrying out the vote of the town. l The matter was of so serious nature l that they sent for Mir. Denman, engi- neer for the Fred T. Ley Company, I which is building the bridge, and he came on from Springfield, arriving
 here last Monday morning. In the 1 meantime the two gentlemen who had criticised the work were notified to ap- pear at the seleetmen' room and talk
 the matter over, and they, with other i citizens, did so. The engineer endeav- ored to point out that his company
 were carrying out their contract with the town and that the contract was in compliance with the vote of the town and was according to plans submitted
 to the town meeting in October last when il was first voted to build the l bridge. The vote was as follows: Voted, that the selectmen be in- structed and empowered to contract | for the construction of reinforced con- crete bridge on Bridge street, tEe same
 to be the full width of street with side
 walks to conform with the width of
 the sidewalks on said street, at a sum
 not to exceed SfS,000.
 The width of Bridge street, includ-
 ing sidewalks, which are six feet, is
 forty feet. Had the measurement of
 the bridge been inside measurement
 from rail to rail the roadway could be
 made twenty-eight feet to correspond | to Bridge street, as this would have 1 left twelve feet for the two six-foot
 walks. It is quite a natural supposi- | tion to many not familiar with such | things that this was what was intend- | ed, but 1t seems that this is not the case as the custom Is measurements over all, or outside to outside. This being so 1t was impossible to have < twenty-eight-foot roadway and two | six-foot walks as there are two side walls of six inches each and two cor nices also six inches each together talk Ing up two feet of space. This two | feet either had to be taken from the sidewalks or from the roadway. The vote of the town specifically states | that the sidewalks are to conform to the sidewalks of Bridge street, which are six feet wide, therefore narrowing the walks was out of the question and the roadway had to be sacrificed. The town voted for fofty-foot bridge with s:x-foot sidewalks. At .he meeting a twenty-eight-fo roa. way
 was talked of but when the vote was | framed there was no specific width of roadway included in 1t. It would | therefore seem that the selectmen are, as they claim, giving the town just
 what they voted for, forty-foot bridge, or, as expressed in the vote, the full width of street with sidewalks, the same divided as follows: Twenty six foot roadway, twelve feet of side walk, one foot of sidewall and one loot of cornice.