Arizona republican., 1911-03-27
RAILROAD NEEDED AS
 BALLAST FOR BRIDGE THEREFORE SUPERVISORS DE- ClDE ONE SHALL BE BUILT Ties Are Here Already and Rails Will be Soon. Final Details
 Arranged Today

There is to be a railroad across
 the Central Avenue bridge and it
 will be built by the county. Ties
 for the road have already arrived
 and rails, of the flange type. will
 be here in two or three days.
 When the district attorney report
 ed that. under the law, county mon
 ey could not be expended to build a
 railroad across the bridge. it was
 thought that the project was dead
 that there would be no railroad until
 one was built by the company which
 succeeds in getting a franchise to
 construct an electric line to the
 south side. But the supervisors
 took another view The district attorney could not point out to them anything in the law forbidding them
 to build railroad. though there was nothing there to say that they should do so. Anyway. a railroad was need ed to weight that bridge down. The supervisors decided that if anyone
 began to ask questions he should be told that the rails were there for ballast and also for the trans portation of gravel with which to dress the surface of the bridge. Be- sides, after the rails are laid the county will own the road, and what ever is said won't make any particu- lar difference.
 Rails and ties were therefore or dered and today the supervisors will meet to make final arrangements for the construction of 21OO feet of rail- road. said railroad to extend from the north end of the Central avenue bridge to the south end of afore- mentioned bridge. The Mercerau company, which has the contract for building the bridge itself, will con struct the railroad for s35OO. It would cost not less than s7,OOO to lay the rails after gravel has been spread on the bridge. The Mercerau company can do the work cheapIv because at present there is no gravel 10 oe moved out of the way. Be sides, the road can be used for dump cars. which will transfer the gravel to be spread along the bridge. The gravel can be handled much more easily. quickly and cheaply with dump cars that run on rails than with wagons.
 It is confidently expected that an- other thirty days will see the Central avenue bridge completed down to the last detail. At present sixteen men, d cook and a foreman are employed Nlne Of the men are handling six teams and working on the south ap- proach, while the others are con- the concrete railing to ex- tend along the entire length of the bridge on both sides
 The railing is being constructed on both sides at once at the rate of 250 feet every four days. This means 300 feet of railing altogether. Five hundred feet had been completed Saturday night and forms were up for 250 feet more. As the bridge is | 215O feet long. the railing should be in twenty days, at least. 1 It will take eight or nine days to | spread the gravel. so thirty days is plenty of time to finish the struc- | ture.
 Between 500 and 500 feet more dirt !, and gravel must be placed on the south approach. Some time ago the | decided to build this ap- proach two feet higher than the original plans called for. This ac- ion was taken because the last Hood reached a point within an inch 'r two of the place where the top would have been under the first plan. It will take something of a flood to Tow over the top of the approach IS it is now being constructed.