The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-01

I the conditions also included the clause that the bridge was to be fin ] ished within five years, and the pro i motors were permitted to run a gi- gantic lottery to raise the necessary | funds. Times have changed.
 The promoters made good, and the | bridge was ready in 1913. The river l channel and the draw were near | down stream side of the Washington | bridge that is now soon to become | only a. memory, may yet be seen part | of the pier of the old boat landing. nearly all of wood, and covered, af- 1 ter the bridge styles of those days.
 The bridge was repaired and rebuilt ] many times before the second bridge | became a reality.
 ] The old bridge was rebuilt several 1 times. In 1872 Bridgeport, Milford
 and stratford subscribed respective
 ly $7,OOO. 5000 and s4,ooo for re-
 time, composed of one man each
 from the three towns was George W. | Hayes, Isaac T. Rogers and Alfred B. Judd. A revision of the division | of tolls collected was made by the l public Acts of March 4, 1878. The | bridge that is about to be torn away, | the second Washington bridge" was also a toll structure, until the year l 1889, when under an act of the Leg | islature, passed largely through the | efforts of the Senator D. M. Read, | Bridgeport, and Represent ntative Cbas. | w. Beardsley, Milford, the bridge was
 made over to Fairfield and New EIa-
 ven counties, as a free bridge.
 The present or ''oId'' bridge at this 1 location was erected in 1893 by the
 Berlin Iron Bridge Co, under the di-
 rection of the County Engineer for | Fairfield County, and for many years l adequately served the needs If the
 travelling public; but as highway traf- l fife increased in volume and in | --.Nicr sof -iv | dent that the bridge was nearing the | end of it's career of usefulness. The | roadway provided is only seventeen | CID feet wide and, as a part of this
 space is occupied by a single track l trolley, there was little room left for the highway traffic. In addition to | this, the great increase in weight of | 1he traffic which the bridge is now called on to carry, caused great over | stressing of certain details and made | necessary. a, series of repairs in an effort to strengthen and prolong the | life of the structure. It was felt by the Highway Commissioner, who is | responsible for the maintenance and repair of this bridge. that 1t would always be more or less of cripple and that it should be repla ced by a modern structure at the first oppor- tunity, especially as it was realized that the constTuction of the new three years after operations were started, and that during this time the
 old bridge would have to be kept in service.
 When the bridge about to be torn ] away was first erected it is said il
 was made narrow after much press
 ure and influence upon the part ot
 the railroad. that feared trolley com
 petition. The idea was to make the | bridge so narrow through political
 influence, perhaps that trolleys
 could not cross. The footpath even
 was an afterthought, erected later at
 a cost of $600.
 Later, when the trolley company became controlled by the railroad, il
 was a different story. Sheriff Simeon
 Pease was one of the County Com-
 missioners involved when an enissary
 of the Connecticut company ap-
 preached the New Haven and Fair
 field County Commissioners, wanting
 them to stand a third share of the
 expense of strengthening the bridge
 so that trol1eys might make the trip l across the span. The "eStimate'. o1
 the cost was $3.000. Pease spoiled
 the party. He believed that as the
 railroad had caused the bridge to be built narrow and light. that they
 should stand the expense of the strengthening, that was to be entirely
 to their benefit. He stood pat, and ; subseauent events proved that twas
 a wise stand Before the trolley
 company had the bridge in shape tc use for the Jumbo" cars, the ex. pense had totalled nearly s3S.o00. l I'ttI 1lle WlHCer CT l9i0-1I pre- !; lfn1inary investigations l. oking to tht
 design of new structure were be gun by the engineers of the Highwa! Departm ent and, after comparison of various types, a bridge consisting
 of concrete arches with Q steel bascu1t span over the channel was decided
 on.
 The declaration of war with Ger many in the spring of 1917 delayed l the completion Of the design aS the Department Engineering Staff wa
 considerably reduced due to enlist ments. During the summer, however ! boringS to determine the character O the river beds were made. Further . investigations and designs were made comparing various types of concrett arches, during the winter of 1917-18 ing on construction during the war it was deemed useless to attempt an! | construction work during 1918. Tn, design was however. submitted to dht : War Department, as the plans of al ] bridges over necvigab1e streams mus : be approved by the Secretary Of Wnn before work is started. and after { series of hearings at which interested } parties expressed their views, revis ed design was approved by the Sec. 1 retary of War in Feb. 1919
 Complete contract drawings to gether with the specifications were then pushed to completion and or June 5, 1919 bids were received fol the foundations, concrete arch span.
 and approach work Three bids were received at that time as follows:
 Snare and Triest, -. .. .. $1114,65( l arthur AcMu1lep 1,1S4,95 | T. Stuart and Son .. .. =. 929,43C ? The contract was awarded to ?