Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1922-11-08
A WONDER BRIDGE.
Largest in World to Cross Hudson at
New York.

| Largest in World to Cross Hudson at
| New York.
The proposed North River bridge,
| spanning the Hudson from the center
of New York city to Weehawken,
| New Jersey, will be, with it's con-
nections and terminals, 'the most
stupendous engineering work yet I'M
dertaken, surprising in that respect
and also in final cost the Panama
Canal" according to Representative
Ernest Alderman, of New Jersey.
The plans call for a single span Of
5000 feet, without single pier in
the river, hung on four immense
cables suspended from terminal tow
ers 685 feet high, or 1870 feet higher
than the famed Washington Monu-
ment.
The bridge will contain 100000
tons of steel, which is twice as much
as in all the five well known East
River bridges combined, and which
! far exceeds the tonnage Of steel in all
! the existing bridges. spanning the
Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi rivers
| combined!
The Hudson River bridge would
contain more than ten times the ton
mage Vi luS &uObSS
bridge, in Canada, which is the long
est span in North America, and
which took seventeen years to build.
1t would contain thirty times as
much steel as there is in the great
Brooklyn bridge, hailed for many
years as the greatest work of man,
and would require ten times the tom
mage of steel in the Scotch bridge
over the Firth of Forth, the largest
steel bridge in the world.
These and other breath-taking
facts concerning the proposed con-
struction, the authority for which is
included in bill now pending before
Congress, are contained in Mr.
Ackerman's remarks printed in the
Congressional Record as part OF
the record of debate on the bill in the
House of Representatives.
For the present structure there
will be sixteen deep foundations Of
eighty feet diameter from twenty to
200 feet below the surface to rock,
which alone will require several
years work. Many other new prob
lens must be met. The bridge will
hang $50 feet above water level in
the center, to allow the passage of
vessels The solid rock foundations
at the terminal points will give suf-
ficent depth for the strongest fOun-
dations. The New York terminal is
in almost a direct line with the
Queensborough bridge across the
East river to Long Island, which will
make direct line of travel from
New Jersey to Brooklyn.
The cable towers, each covering
an area at the base 200 by 400 feet,
resting upon eight caissons, eighty
feet in diameter, will be Of steel
skeletonry enclosed in masonry, not
only for the esthetic value of the
stone but to protect the steel
against the weather The masonry
would cost less than the ever increas-
ing cost of keeping the exposed steel
work painted.
Corrosion is the greatest enemy
of steel in this climate; nature is
forever trying to change steel back
to it's ancestor, iron. Therefore the
protection from the weather. The
painting of the Firth of Forth bridge
requires perpetual force of thirty
painters year in and year out. After
reaching one end of the bridge in
from three to four years, the paint
ers return to the other end for the
, next coat, to save the structure from
corrosion. In the Hudson River
bridge that force of men would have
to be ten times larger, the expense
of maintenance would be enormous;
but with the steel protected there
would remain only eight per cent. ex-
posed to the weather.
The four cables which are to bear
the burden of the great weight will
be twelve feet in diameter. They will
be protected by bronze shells.
The doorway will be in two decks,
the upper carrying the promenades
four surface tracks, and a roadway
two and one-half times the width of
Fifth Avenue. The upper deck will
form a ire-and-waterproof roof over
the lower deck which will provide
twelve railroad tracks each capable
of carrying the heaviest trains and
locomotives.
The greatest weight which the
towers and cables will have to carry
will be the 100000 tons of the sus-
pended spans; compared with this
the loads will be inconsiderable.
The passenger traffic available
over the North River bridge is esti-
mater at 2OO,O0O,0OO, not in
GLIDING the 100,000,000 passengers
who are using the six existing tun-
nels under the North river. In 1910
it is estimated there will be 25.000,-
900 vehicles passing over the bridge
yearly.
At the time the bridge was first
planned the time of completion was
reckoned at ten years, but this has
since been changed to fifteen years.
West Franklin.