Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-06
BRIDGE RECORDS
. TO Be SET BY SPAN
Longest Of Suspension Type
Will Need $4,000 Tons of
Steel in Construction
WILL END TRAFFIC JAMS


linking Philadelphia and Camden, will
nave main span Of 17jO feet.
/ II will have n clearance above mean
! high water Of l3j feet.
| From the top of the towers to mean
high water II will measure $50 feet.
Gables will have a diameter of thirty
inches
/ Each cable will contain 1851 gall
vnnized wires. Each wire will have a
diameter of O.2 inch.
Each cable will have total length,
from end TO end Of the bridge, of 1854
feet.
These cables will weigh 6100 tons.
There will be total length Of wire
in the bridge of 22. 100 miles, enough
to go almost around the earth.
Much Steel to BE Used
Steel to a total weight of $4,000 tons
will enter into the construction of the
bridge.
OF masonry. there will be 100000
cubic yards
These figures give an idea Of the
vastncss of the span. The bridge itself
will b. 1.S2 miles from approach to
approach and at full capacity 5000
vehicles can pass over It each hour.
All exposed masonry will be of
granite, The width of roadway between
Curbs, will be tftysc feet, or just
three feet less than Market street
bridge. The total width over all will
be l25 feet. in addition to the other
ways to be two surface car tracks and
two rapid transit car tracks.
The roadway for automobiles and
wagons will be In the center of the
bridge. The surface cars will run along
each side of this roadway, all "inside"
h., hYt.ln HnN hn .rkt mi,
hanging from the main cables. The
rapid transit tracks, one on each side,
are outside and will run along ledge.
The hand or guard rail outside these
tracks is the extreme outside part of
the bridge. Foot passengers walk along
a ten foot walk just inside the sup
ports on each side of the bridge twenty
eight feet above the traffic on the main
floor Of the structure.
To Increase Interstate Travel
At present 100, 900 passengers cross
the river each day, and this number is
expected 20 be tremendously increased
when the bridge is opened.
The central span, between the two
towers to be in the river on each side,
will be 500 feet in length. The clear
anCe. under extreme temperature and
load conditions for 800 feet of this in the
center of the bridge, will be 13j feet
above high tide. At low tide this clear
anCe will be increased to l42 feet q
inches. Under average conditions the
clearance at low tide under this 300
feet in the center of the bridge will be
about 145 feet OF no steamships that
have entered the port within given
time only two exceeded 13j feet in height
of masts. and these two could pass, it
is said, under the center OF the span.
viii Relieve Ferry Jams
As for the passenger traffic the
bridge may be expected to carry the
1920 ferry statistics show during that
year 2.424. .S46 vehicles were carried
by NIL the ferries between this city and
Camden and 47.722. 264 foot passen-
gers were carried across the river. In
1900 there were 10000, 900 passengers
carried across, in 1910 81 .462, 100.
At this rate, under present condi-
tions, according TO the engineers, the
vehicular traffic will double by 1929
and the passenger traffic by 1894. How
ever, with the bridge in use, it is esti-
mated, this rate of increase will be
accelerated to a degree impossible TO
estimate at this time, but Of tremendous
proportions.
The average daily cross river traffic
at present is $500 vehicles, with an
average daily peak hour rush Of about
$50 vehicles. The maximum daily total
on holidays for all ferries is about
10000. with 1850 vehicles trying to
get across during the peak hour.
Six lines OF vehicular traffic can travel
at one time over the bridge, when COM
pleted, three each way. The bridge has
been so designed that il can carry
maximum load all over the bridge of
1900 pounds per lincal foot. To so
crowd the bridge It would be necessary
for the tracks TO be covered with heavy
ears filled with people, the roadways
crowded with vehicles end to end and
the footways packed with people. The
utmost the bridge will be called upon
to stand. under actual practice. Is cetl-
mated at 5000 pounds per lineal foot
only.
Strength 10 BE Stressed
All the main truss members Of the
bridge, the towers, floor beams and
some bruCing will be made Of high
steel Is to be used for the remainder,
with the exception Of the cables and
hangers, which will be made of high
carbon steel wire. This wire has nm
ultimate strength Of 215,00O pounds per
square inch and an elastic limit of
more than IA 900 pounds per square
inch.
Tie Brooklyn bridge has span Of
1896 feet; the Williamsburg bridge has
a span of 1900 feet. The PHILADELPHIA
Camden bridge will exceed the Williams.
burg bridge by $50 feet.
Every twenty and one half feet along
the main cables a cast steel saddle"
will be fastened, and over these saddles
four palya lied wire rODes tun and fiva-