The New York herald., 1921-07-30
Detroit's New Bridge.
Dur Coming Link With Canada q
Span 1,605 Feet Long.

To THE NEW York HERALD: Detroits
suspension bridge will see the 1.750 foot
span Of Phfladelphia's great structure
and go 1t 55 feet better. 1t win swing
over a stretch OF 1905 feet with 100 feet
clearance above water level at the lowest
dip OF the suspending cables. The Phila-
delphia bridge clearance. like that OF the
big New York bridges. is 1876 feet.
II Detroit's bridge hangs lower over
the water it is not because of shorter
cable supporting towers. On the con-
trary. the Detroit towers win be higher
by 20 feet than those OF Philadelphia
400 feet as compared with $50. Pre-
sumably the lower masts OF lake going
vessels as compared with ocean going
craft make the 80 feet extra water clear
ance over the Detroit River unnecessary.
Construction on both bridges viii begin
almost simultaneously. Excavation and
foundation work for the Detroit bridge
is booked to begin August 1. The esti-
mated time for the completion OF the
Detroit bridge is four tina. OF the Phila-
delphia five years.
1t will be to Detroit and not % Phila-
delphia that will go the distinction of
having the longest span suspension bridge
in the world. But Philadelphia,s bridge
will bs all American Detroit's part
American and part Canadian.
It was an association OF thirty business
men in the United States and Canada
that furnished the first s1ooyaOo Tor the
tie that is to bind the two countries with
great cables OF steel stretching from
Windsor. in Ontario. to Detroit. In Mich
igan. Then were formed the American
Transit Company of New York. which
got the necessary authority from the
American Congress, and the Canadian
Transit Company, which got like au-
thorization from the Canadian Parlia-
ment. Tho two companies have enter ed
into a contract for Joint action and the
flotation OF a s30.o0o.ooo bond isscc,
which 1t Is estimated viii cover the en-
tire construction cost. This is about
s1,300,o0 more than the cost OK the
Philadelphia bridge.
The social and commercial effects of
the two bridges will be widely different.
Those flowing from the Philadelphia
bridge will be largely localized. Those
from Detroit will be both continental In
scope and international in character.
The bridge at Detroit will be the only
one In the stretch from Niagara Falls to
Duluth. But for the Grand Trunk and
the Michigan Central tunnels at Fort
Huron and Detroit respectively 1t VIII
be tho only point OF physical contact on
the water front boundary which sepa-
rates us from Canada for a distance OF
over 1000 miles. Ferryboats do the
rest Sentimentally as well as commcr-
cially it should contribute to the per-
petuatIon of cordial relations between
two big and fundamentally very sane
neighbors neighbors whose political
destinies are apart. but whose interests.
flowing from identity of language and
ever 1900 miles of friendly contiguity,
must necessarily have many points of
merger.
Suggestive perspectives Of the signifi-
cance of the opening Of this new line
OF direct communication may be gath
ei ed from data assembled by the projec-
tors OF the enterprise. Under existing
conditions passenger trnffic between
Detroit and Windsor is approximately
1 1000. 900 individual tripc year ;
vehicular trips. 100000. The capacity
individual passenger trips OF the bridge