Norwich bulletin., 1915-03-04
THAMES RIVER BRIDGE
 GOOD BARGAIN FOR STATE.
Opinion Expressed in Hartford-Ex- penditure Slight in Comparison With Receipts,

Some persons who are not given 10 careful thought on public questions, but are prone to jump at conclusions, may be alarmed because of the an- nouncement that the state may have to spend what seems like considerable money to make fit for use the bridge over the Thames. between Groton an6 New London, which has been given to the state by the New Haven railroad, the gift to be effective upon the com pletion by the railroad of a new struc- ture to handle it's train service.
 The senate Tuesday received d re- port from State Highway Commission CT Bennett in which he suggested that the state should e3pend about $16,000 in connection with the gift bridge. Of this, $09,003 is required for the western approach, $12,000 to pay the New Ha- ven road for relocation of it's tracks on Winthrop street and $5,000 for an
 underwater examination of the center pier of the bridge, which has a tenden- cy to settle.
 Of course, to one who is unfamiliar 1 with the situation it may appear that a gift which involves so much eXpen allure is an unloading process rather than a kindness to the state, but noth- 1 ing could be further from the truth. The state appropriated S5OO,000 for 1 the construction of the highway bridge | over the Connecticut at Saybrook and l several hundred thousand dollars for | a similar bridge over the Connecticut i at East Haddam. No one questions the need of these bridges or tie wisdom of l building them. There is as much or l even more need for a, highway bridge | at New London, It isn't particularly needed by either New London or Gro- | ton, which now have d very SatiSfac- 1 tory ferry service that probably suits ! their needs better than the bridge ever | will, but the bridge is needed by those l persons who use the trunk line high | way along the shore. It is the only 1 crossing point on the Thames. From
 early spring until winter, hundreds of l automobilists cross the stream every | day at New London. At present they 1 have to be loaded on d ferryboat at | one side and unloaded at the other. All 1 day long in the automobile season this l ferryboat is literally crowded with aI- l tomobileS on every trip from morning | to night. No one who has not seen the 1 business can appreciate it's volume. 1t 1 is of course an inconvenient arrange | msnt, although not as 1ncOnVenient as | that which existed at Saybrooll, for the | simple reason that the ferry service is 1 immeasurably better.
 So far as the money which the state will have to eXpend is concerned, it is 1 so slight, in comparison to the benefit
 gained, that 1t is scarcely worth con l siderinG. To build a new bridge. as 1 the state has done twice on the Con l necticut. would cost not half d million dollars, as was the case at Saybrook but more than a million, perhaps as | much as million and half If il l was necessary to build new, it is doubt ful if the state would contemplate sucI a thing for years to come. When l therefore, it is considered that for al
 investment of something approHimat-
 ing S100,00o, one-fftll of what the
 Saybrook bridge cost, the state can gel 1 a plant that it would cost upwards of 2
 million to reproduce, one gets a differ.
 ent view of the situation.
 ! The expenditures which the highway commissioner proposes are absolutely legitimate and necessary. The west, ern approach of the bridge is now ovel a trestle and along an embank1pent 0. made land. the track being carried ovel the line of the Central Vermont railway by an overhead bridge. The presen
 approach is entirely apart from the highway and unsuitable for it. Nat.
 urally, when the New Haven puts it:
 bridge further north it will alter it;
 approach, hence he necessity for actioI
 by the state to secure it's own ap' proach.
 1 The suggestion that the center pivo Of the bridge has a tendency to settle
 need alarm no one. It has had the ten
 dency for a decade and 8 half. That i. 1 the reason why the railroad is goins
 to spend d couple of million or more o.
 dollars to build anew. The tendency
 makes it advisable to abandon tht
 bridge for railway traffic, because o
 passing at high speed. The bridge
 was formerly double tracked so tha
 two trains could pass, but on accoun
 of the tendency to sink the tracks have 1 been gauntletted and only one trair
 uses the structure at a time. However
 for trolley and Nehicular traffic tn,
 bridge is secure enough to last half $ \