Evening journal., 1921-09-12
800 RESIDENTS
ASK new BRIDGE
contInued from First PAGE.

dents in the vicinity Of the pro-
posed structure. Aside from Holmes
Jones. the only other objector was
Joseph L. Carpenter. Jr., in letter
in behalf OF the Board OF Park Com
missioners. This objection was based
on the ground that the span was not
needed and that its easterly ap-
proach would meet with the spur of
the Pennsylvania Railroad. running
along the bank Of the Brandywine.
No objection from a navigable point
OF view. however. was presented by
any one.
A letter was filed by Mr.. Gray. as
counsel for the traction company.
This is addressed to the War Depart
ment and was prepared by A. Kuy-
lensejerna. mechanical engineer. IL
reads in part:
The proposed construction OF a
county~bridge across the Brandywine
river at or near Sixteenth street, in
the city Of Wilmington. is Of keen In
terest to the Wilmington and Phila-
delphia Traction Company because
of the fact that the Brandywine
Power Plant, operated by this COM
pany. which supplies power and light
to the city OF Wilmington is depend
ent upon the Brandywine river for
its supply OF condensing and boiler
feed water. The various points to be
observed in the designing of such a
bridge insofar as It might affect the
supply Of water and coal for the
Brandywine Power Plant are out
lined below
list. The Brandywine Power
Plant is located just below the Mar
ket street bridge and the proposed
locati OF the new County Bridge
at 18th street would be between the
Brandywine Plant and the point at
which the Brandywine River flows
into the Delaware. For this rea-
son. In constructing the new bridge,
no obstruction should be placed in
the river which would tend to re-
tard the flow OF water as this condi-
tion has caused flooding of the
Brandywine Power House.
Approximately two years ago. in
March. 1919, a heavy food occurred
which caused complete shut down
OF the Brandywine Plant thereby
leaving the City of Wilmington
without power or lighting service and
also doing considerable damage to
the power plant machinery. The
flooding Of the plant was caused by
ice jambing on the shores and at
the bridge piers across the river
which retarded the flow to such an
extent that the water backed up into
the plant. One Of the bridges
which was known as the Pine Street
Bridge has since been removed and
this no doubt helped the situation so
far as the flooding of the plant was
concerned.
"2nd. The operation Of the Bran
dywine plant is dependent on a goot
supply OF water for condensing ano
boiler feed. The amount OF watei
required for this purpose is approx
mately 80. 900 gallons per minute. II
order to obtain this large quantity
OF water during the dry season
is necessary for us to dredge th'
river in front OF the Brandywin'
power house TO provide a deer
channel to the water intakes. II Il
therefore necessary to use dredges
from time to time together with the
necessary barges as the material ex.
cavated from the river bed is
dumped on to barges and removed
from the vicinity
Danger From Frcshets
-
brought TO the plant from the Della
ware river and no Instructions
should be placed which would in
terfere- with the passage of dredges
and barges. coming up the Brandy
wine river TO the power plant.
The clearance required for the
type Of dredge generally used is as
feet above high water and the width
required is 25 feet
Third BY making a few changes
md improvements in front of the
power plant it would De possible foi
Us to have the coal delivered to the
plant by boat. II the proposed
bridge is constructed this feature
should be kept in mind so that there
be no obstruction TO prevent boat.
coming up the river with a supply OF
coal for the plant at high tide.
There is an average OF eight fee
OF water at low tide at the front o.
the plant. due to the dredging which
has been performed in the pas
which is ample depth TO permit tn,
boats to lay alongside OF the plan
during low tide.
"Fourth-In the fall Of the yea
when the leaves are falling and heav,
freshets come down the river w
, have considerable trouble with rub
bish collecting in front Of the plan
due TO the poor condition OF III
, Brandywine River Just below tn
, plant. In this connection Il woul,
] be Of considerable advantage TO tn
manufacturing plants along tn
Brandywine River II the river wa
! dredged from the Market stree
bridge to the Delaware by the prope
Federal and municipal authoritie,
l Going over the situation in gen
| eral I would suggest that IL Ii
bridge is located az the above loca
2 tion that II be OF draw bridg
type and that the cross section be
= tween the abutments and the pier
a would be such that Il would not /
e any way decrease the present cross
! section Of the stream. In fact,
possible. the cross-section OF IN
stream should be increased becaus
q II piers are located in the cente
Of the river they will tend to diver
the water and collect a lot OF rui
. bish which will decrease the 40
/, Of water II allowed TO accumuiat
= | m. l. 49,. LII -. -.