The New York herald., 1922-07-29
WHALEN FINDS FLAW
IN BROOKLYN BRIDGE
Continued from First Page.

in the next Ave years as it has in the
last five years.
"The williamsburg Bridge has abso-
lutely reached It's capacity. 1t was only
within the last year that the Commits
sioners of the Sinking Fund and the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment
reopened the Broadway, Brooklyn, Grand
street, Manhattan. ferry in order to re-
lieve the traffic condition on the Will
iamshurg span.
with these two bridges, namely, the
Manhattan Bridge and the Williams.
burg Bridge, being used to their capacity
at the present moment. 1t becomes my
duty to call this situation to the attention
of the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionmcnt and to state that shall short
ly respectfully request you 20 call spe-
cial meeting of the Board of Estimate
and Apportonment to consider the ques-
ton of the authorization of the con.
struction of new bridge and the re-
building of the Brooklyn Bridge"
Not Serious, Engineers Say.
Gustav LindenthaI. engineer of the
He'll Gate Bridge. who was Bridge Com
missioner of New York in the Seth Low
administration and who is regarded as
one of the most experienced bridge en-
gineers in the country. expressed sur
prise when told the bridge had been re-
ported irreparably damaged and might
have to be torn down.
Forty years is not a long lifetime
for such structure" said Mr.. Linden
thai "It would be a great mistake to
tear it down. II properly cared for
the Brooklyn Bridge is good for several
hundred years-in fact, 1t ought to be
good forever. The slipping of a cable
from it's saddle is not so serious a thing
that 1t cannot be repaired. The saddles
on top of the bridge towers were con-
structed to rest on rollers designed to
permit the saddles to give with the
changing strains. Within a year after
the bridge was built. however. the rollers
became corroded and ceased to function.
So far as / know. they have not func-
toned since.
"In my opinion. the towers and
cables are perfectly sound and strong
to-day. All that is needed is to have
the roadway and suspended structure
rebuilt to meet modern traffic require
ments. This could be done without even
closing the bridge"
william II. Burr. consulting engineer.
who In 1919 made a careful study OF
the Brooklyn Bridge at the instance of
New York newspaper, expressed the
opinion that the mere slipping of main
cables n matter of a few inches, so long
as they showed no evidence of having
actually stretched to a degree to i'm
-faI thatv fnn ctr mt
necessarily serious affair. Two
years ago he went on record with the
opinion that, with proper care and
maintenance, the span should have been
capable of carrying indefinitely the load
1t was then carrying.
o. H. Ammenn, another consulting engi-
neer, said: "On the face of 1t this does
not appear to be serious. unless the
slipping already noted should be found
to be due to something that might cause
further slipping"
Might Even Replace Cable.
y. b. Steinman. consulting engineer
of 25 Church street. said: so far as
concerns the anchorages. towers and
cables, the Brooklyn Bridge is all right.
with the right kind of care they are
strong enough to last for hundreds of
years. IL cable has slipped and cannot
be righted l do not think It would be
an impossible Nat of engineering to re-
place II with new cable. IL necessary"
H. c. Beard. former partner of the
late Henry w. Hodge. expressed surprise
when told of Commissioner Whalen's
statement of the trouble. "I never
heard of such a thing" he said. IL
cannot account for IL. as the saddles and
rollers are supposed to take care of that
very deviation. l have heard before,
however. that the rollers do not operate
very we'll. I certainly shall have no
fear in crossing the bridge. but IL It
were my Job to look after Il I should
feel like giving 1t very careful atten-
ton"
About 100000 persons a day travel
over the Brooklyn Bridget The city de-
partment took a canvass of the traffic on
November T. 1921. which showed that
all day traffic. twenty-four hours. Brook
lyn to Manhattan. ais surface cars
carried 50,956 passengers and SCI ele-
waited trains, made up OF 2,104 cars
carried 5000 persons from Brooklyn to
Manhattan, or a total of 106,04S pas
sengers on surface and elevated lines
Manhattan to Brooklyn traffic on that
day totaled 9416s. They were carried
as follows: 52.272 passengers on ana
surface cars and 1895 passengers on
the Same number of elevated cars that
had been sent over from Brooklyn that
day.