Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1913-04-11

Chandler says that Is fully $4,000 me
spent ON the project.
"There is considerable discussion I
about a new bridge to be bull, over
the Christiana river to take the place
OF the old Third Street Bridge In the |
last few years and particularly at |
the present aH the new Levy Court has |
obtained from the Legislature the |
privilege az bonding the county Tor |
S25o.0o0' Mr. Chandle said. AS !
have been interested since was IN !
the Levy Court-haying been chair
man Of the Bridge Committee about
Third Street bridge knowing the
critical condition OF The bridge. 7
thought II best 10 he prepared for
new bridge First.1 deemed n wise to
find out Tho width and tho opening and
the kind of bridge suitable for the
place. by consulting persons inter
ostad. J found that the width of the
bridge ought to he as feet from ont 70
t--3o feet for travel and trolley. s
feet for foot travel. feet each side;
and for opening IN the river 100 feet.
This size Is large enough now. or any
future time, for this river a. that
place Now for reference, The old
bridge Is only 30 feet aud Market
street 80 feet out to out and the
opening 80 feel
n wrote 10 lhe Harlan and Hol-
lingsvorth Company, giving A. the
width and the opening proposed and
VIII give you their answer. That
company sent q copy Of II to the Gov
ernmont engineers Office without my
/ request but ! was pleased II did. I
; went 10 see Major Raymond at his
Office Hn foid 30 he was satisfied
with the size had suggested and
thought the Government would ap-
prove It.
"Now for the kind OF bridge BY
making inquiry and seeing the Scher-
rer rollor-lift, or bascule bridge, I was
satisfied It was the best and cheap
est / wrote TO the Scherzer people
| asking them 10 send a catalogue and
their agent as ! wanted to talk about
I new bridge that the county would
have TO build. They sent their agent
! Mr.. Vincent. I gave him the size Of
the bridge and opening and the dis
tance from shore TO shore. asked
him to give me plans and estimate for
the bridge so the Levy Court could
ask the Legislature TO bond the coun-
I
which they did After getting the
i plans and estimates from them I got
I an estimate for the abutments ap-
! proaches. &C., complete. When all
I We're added together 7 found the
/ hridge could be built for $4,000 COM
plete
Now, having the cost Of the bridge.
J 7 got the Levy Court 10 ask the
! / orla Iafr 80. oil .. "a
county for St5O00O 10 build the
bridge. That was granted In 1911.
Now as the old bridge was not able
10 stand the strain II has 10 do on
account Of the trolleys. / gave the
plans aud estimates to the Levy Court
so II might build the new bridge as
soon as possible The report gaining
currency that the Levy Court was
going to build q bridge. the agents
of the builders OF different kinds OF
bridges were after the Levy Court 10
take them TO SEE their types of bridge
and how they worked They took us
10 New Jersey and New York to SEQ
them. The Levy Court came to the
conclusion TO build Scherzor bas-
cule, believing IL TO be the best. and
gave instructions TO the bridge com
mittee TO engage an engineer to draw
plans and specifications for the new
bridge, so as to get bids from the con-
tractors, The chairman of the com.
mittee, instead of giving the size thai
I had worked up TO the engineer as
recommended as the proper size foi
width and opening. had II made 81
feet wide out to out, Al feet for trav-
el and trolley, and 16 feet for foo
travel in place of as feet from oui
to out, 32 feet for travel and trolley
and 16 feet for foot travel, making Il
nine feet wider He made the open.
ing $50 feet I'm place of 120 feet
One hundred and fifty feet is unneces.
sarily wide. as II requires the piers
and abutments to be nine feet wider
] protested against such unnecessary
size for the bridge and the extra cost
He said he was going 10 put up q
bridge that would be a credit FOR all
time. | asked an expert on bridges
what the difference would be In the
cost. giving him the sizes. He told
me SEQ, 600 or sos 900 more. He was
= right, for when the bids come in the
3 lowest bid was S211,000, being $61,-
0C0 more than the original plans
had had prepared
; The present Third street over all is
30 feet. while the present Market
street over all is 33 feet. What use is
there building a bridge with 40 feet
for traffic when the street is only p
feet between curbs?
Are the taxpayers going to stand
! for the county spending $61 700 fol
no benefit AT all to please the former
chairman of the bridge2 committee
, One Of the bridge committee told ms
he knew that tho bridge recon-
, mended was plenty wide enough II
. fact l do not believe any Of the OLE