The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-06-10

girder spans OF thirty feet in the
clear are carried on pedestal bents
two feet thick to the main east
abutment These spans carry the
floor of the bridge over the right or
way and tracks of the Mcnongahe-
la Railway. From the main east
abutment the floor of the structure
lis carried over the river and the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. s
, properties by three $50 foot span
arches, with open spandrel walls
from top of arch ribs to bottom or
floor.
Two Large Piers.
Supporting the arches in the rlV-
er are two large piers. This series
of long spans is abutted on the
west end of the westerly arch into
the large main west abutment.
From this large unit the floor IS
carried over Parks avenue BY a
forty-three foot IT. beam and g1rs
der span. thence by four equal thlr.
ty foot clear spans stoi,the second : :
airy westerly abutment Just 23.5
feet east of the east line of Wash
ingtonS street The span elements
of the westerly beam and girdcr'
spans are arranged on chords of a
curve. with 314S6 radius on the
center line of the bridge The
bentss supporting these spans are
two feet thick.
Floors and Sidewalks.
The bridge floor and sidewalks,
from main west to main east abut-
ments, a distance of S4S feet, are
level eon elevation 954.0. On tho
easterly approach spans the grade
is g per cent down to elevation
947.O. where it meets the newly
made grades of Merchant street.
which are 0.6 per cent to the north
and about AZ per cent to the south.
On the west approach spans the
grade is O.51 per cent down to the
intersecting grades of Washington
and Jefferson streets.
The river piers are hugh masses
of solid concrete and steel rem
forcement, rthirty-eight feet vide at
the bottom. sloping<up under water
toStwenty-f five feet, about one 1oot
under the normal pool surface. Inc
shaft rises from this elevation,
slightly battered on both sides to a
width of twenty-five rect at the
springing elevation. Both upstream
and downstream ends OF. the shaft
are circular, &the upper portion OF
both ends being attractively shaped
into d special moulding with cast
in swastika band and conical COP
ing. Both piers are Identical in d.
mansions and forms used for the
one were utilized in the other also
The piers are heavily reinforced
with one inch diameter steel rein
forcement.
Foundations Solid Rock. 4
The foundations upon which
these river piers rest is solid rock
Thorough Investigations of the riv
er strata were made before -p1e'
con struction was started. At each
location four bore holes were made.
These were four inch holes, going
to a depth of thirty-five to fortT
feet below surface of rock. The
+shot-drill was used. because of its
effective and precise adjustment
and because of the fact that high
percentage of actual core can be
obtained In the eight holes the
engineers actually examined every
inch of the depths drilled, recover
ing 90 per cent of the cores
;, The big arch spans consist OF
two ribs each fourteen feet wide,
spaced fourteen feet apart 5.All six
ribs of the three spans are the same
with fifty-two foot rises
Lighting System Modern.
The lighting system is the latest
thing in modern engineering. Pole