New Britain herald., 1922-10-20
GREATEST BRIDGE
 PLANNED FOR WY.
Will Span Hudson From Center
 of City to New Jersey

in that respect and also in final cos
 the Panama Canal" according tc
 Representative Ernest Alderman, ol
 New Jersey. The plans call for 8
 single span of 5000 feet, withou: 6
 single pier in the river, hung on foul
 immense cables suspended from
 terminal towers 6sb feet high. or i3f
 feet higher than the famed Wash
 ington Monument in this city.
 The bridge will contain 450,o00 tons
 of steel, which is twice as much a:
 in all the five well known East River
 bridges combined, and which far ex- ceeds the tonnage of steel in all the existing bridges spanning the Ohio
 Missouri and Mississippi rivers com bined
 The Hudson River bridge would contain more than 10 times the ton mage of the stupendous Quebec bridge in Canada, which Is the long est span in North America. and which took IT years to build. It would con- tain 30 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 tonnage 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 construction the authority for which is included in a bill now pending before congress are contained in Mir. Ackerman's re- marks printed in the Congressional Record as part of the record of de- bate on the bill in the house of rep resentatives The bill was before the house on adjournment. September 22.
 Much Traffic Saved
 Tn return for the immense cost, the great amount of labor and engineer ing involved, and the IS years esti- mated as the minimum time required to build the gigantic bridge, Con- gressman Alderman presented many advantages to be derived.
 Automobiles and motor trucks would be able to cross from New York to New Jersey in few minutes instead of being held up for hours as Is now the case.
 A saving in the cost of delivery and a certainty of supplies, fuel, food and other necessities to the metropolis would result.
 Reduction in shipping costs to and from the port of New York and con- sequent beneht to the nations com merce, would fellow.
 Through rail connections from the north, and south, east and west would ke two occupy one level of the structure, thus giving greater speed and con- venience of travel with elimination of some unnecessary costs.
 Besides allowing for greater busi- ness expansion and home building in New Jersey and along the Hudson, the bridge would offer In time of war an important element of safety and eff ciency.
 The history of the efforts to con- etruct the bridge goes as far back as 1890, when an act incorporating company to build the bridge was ap- proved.
 The bridge is not to cost the federal government a cent It is to be erected by the same engineers who built the Hell Gate Arch bridge, with finances raised by the States of New York and New Jersey. The only federal partici pa ton is in authorizing its erection over tide water. which is under gov ernment control.
 Litigation, injunction and other fac tors have prevented actual construc tion since 1890. Work was started on the New Jersey foundations in 1893, T but persons living in the vicinity stop ped work with an injunction. com plaining of the noises of drills and blasting. The money panic of that year also had a hand in stopping the work, and before railroad finances had settled down ten years had elapsed Later the World War caused another delay. but now, it was said, everything is ready to go ahead. il
 Plans Are Changed
 In the meantime, the plans for the bridge have been greatly changed. | Traffic has increased by leaps and 1 bounds. The present plans call for a bridge four times greater than the original A new location also had to be found because the center of the city had moved farther north and in- stead of being located at Twenty Third street, as first planned, the New York terminal will be at about Fifty-sev- enth street.
 For the present structure there will be 16 foundations of 80 feet diameter from 12o to 200 feet below the surface to rock. which alone will require sev- eral years work. Many other new Il problems must be met, The bridge II will hang 15o feet above waterlevel in he center, to allow the passage of yes Il Bels. Solid rock at the terminal points Il will give sufficient depth for the II strongest foundations. The New York with Queensborough Bridge across the Il East River 10 Long Island, which will Il make a direct line of travel from New Jersey. to Brooklyn. H The cable towers, each covering an III lrea at the base 200 by 400 feet, rest H ng upon caissons 30 feet in diamet- H IT, will be of steel skeletonry enclos- d in masonry. not only for the esthe- ic value of the stone but to protect he steel against the weather. The masonry would cost less than the ever increasing cost ot keeping the expos d steel work painted.
 Weather Protection. Corrosion is the greatest enemy of teel in this climate; nature is forever rying to change steel back to its an- estor. iron. Therefore the protection rom the weather. The painting of he Firth of Forth bridge requires