The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1915-03-11
VlADUCT
OPENED
TO PUBLIC
TRAVEL


completed and was thrown open 10
public travel at 8 o'clock this morn
ing. The first automobile to cross it
was driven by j. ]. Armstrong, which
was followed a short time later by a
similar machine driven by Ben w.
Rea. City Treasurer, Claud NJ. Rem
ton, was the first to cross it in buggy
1t is now available for vehicles of
all kinds. as well as pedestrians.
An official inspection of the struc-
ture was made by Mayor Smith and
the members of the city council at 9
o'clock this morning, but its formal
acceptance ty them on behalf of the
public will, probably, not take place
for some time, as certain tests have
to be complied with that cannot be
made at present as the concrete is too
green" 10 be subjected to severe
trial. Under the terms of the contract
the council is entitled to run fifteen
ton roller over the floor of the via
duct at the end of three months from
the time of the completion Of the
structure. and if it does not, stand
the weight without cracking or other
injury the contractors will make good
the defects in construction.
The inspection this morning was
made in company with Jas. H. Pea
body. superintendent of construction
for the city; Chas. L. Milton. consult
ing engineer for the city, and rep
resentative of the contractors. The
members of the council expressed
themselves as being highly pleased
with the appearance Of the viaduct
and were unable to find any flaws ia
the work as done by the contractors.
Preliminary work was begun on the
yiaduct by the Central Construction
company OF Colorado Springs, on Sep
tember 29. 1914, and few days later
excavation for the foundation of she
piers was started. r. c. Hardman Ut
Colorado Springs, representing the
contractors. had general supervision
Of the work for the company until
about month or six weeks ago when
he was succeeded by v. C. Kirgman
OF the same city. Jas. II. Peabody
was employed by the city council q
look after the interests of the public
in the building of the. structure. while
Chas. L. Milton was elected to be con
sulting engineer. Both Of them were
dertaking was started until it was
finished.
The viaduct has an extreme length
including the bridge across the .Ar
kansas river. which is really a part Of
It. OF SAT feet. 1t is 26 feet above
the Denver & Rio Grande railroad
tracks and has a width of thirty feet
six inches. including a ive-foot side
walk There are sixteen spans; the
longest of which is sixty-five feet AMI
the shortest eighteen feet. ALI of the
pillars are of solid concrete and
those on each side OF the railroad
tracks are four by five feet in dimen
sions; the others being four feet
square.
There is in the viaduct $500 cubic
feet Of concrete. weighing 2,54s,0oC
pounds. or more than fifteen hundred
tons. In addition to this there is a
large quantity of structural iron and
wire: the whole being bound togesh
er in such a manner as to make Il
practically indestructible. except "
an earthquake or some great upheaval
OF the earth's crust by dynamic force.
AS concrete structures Of this kind
get stronger with age the yiaduct
ought to last I'VE hundred or thou3-
and years. which is quite as long as
INST Of US care anything about mum
dane affairs.
The contract price Of the viadrct
vas s26. 6.235. or with the changes that
were made in the plans after WORK
began. $26. .490. From the appearance
OF the structure the public got good
value for It's money.