Perth Amboy evening news., 1924-12-10
FULL REPORT ON
VICTORY span
The Advisory Board Gives
Reasons in Deciding Against
Amboy Bridge Memorial

TRENTON, Dec. 10.-The full re-
Board to the State Highway Com
situation follows:
The advisory board appointed by
the State Highway Commission to
confer and advise with regard to
making the new bridge over the
Raritan river at Perth Amboy into a
memorial for the World War. in ac
cordanee with the Instructions of the
New Jersey state legislature, has held
several meetings and otherwise given
the matter very careful consideration
and they beg to report herewith.
The advisory board first visited the
site of the bridge and inspected the
work done to date. together with the
approaches on both sides of the
river. They then examined the
drawings for the bridge and had
them explained by your consulting
engineer. General drawings of the
bridge We're also sent to- each MEM
Der of the board so they might be
examined and given more careful
consideration than was possible at
any meeting.
The advisory board discussed IN
a general way what constitutes n
memorial. 1t was felt that the struc-
ture should be of such character that
the public would. Immediately -recog-
nize it as World War memorial to
the soldiers and sailors of New Jer-
sey. 1t was deemed essestfal that
memorial in design, materials, and
execution be of monumental char
acter and work of fine art. Me-
moriale lackingl in these essentials
fail in their purpose and are but an
awkward attempt to do something
that should have been done grace
fully and beautifully. There is no
practical Or artistic reason why a
state memorial to our soldiers and
sailors of the worlds war should not
be associated with some practical
and useful structure such as a bridge
but structure which Is 100 per
cent utilitarian serves poorly as an
expression of the states gratitude for
such services or supreme sacrifices.
The final decision of the Advisory
Board was that 1t is impra ctical from
many standpoints to make the Perth
Amboy bridge into a satisfactory
memorial, and they respectfully
recommend that no attempt be made
to do this. for the reasons given be-
low:
The construction of the Perth
Amboy bridge is well advanced, pos
siply one-half done. at this time.
Commitments and contracts have
oeen made for practically all the
work, and any changes which would,
or course, be necessary in order to
turn 1t into memorial, would mean
great expense and considerable delay
IN the completion OF the bridge. Fur
tnermore, we understand no addi-
tionai FUNDS were provided to carry
out the provisions of the law making
this bridge memorial.
This bridge is of tremendous size
soIneehing over mile and a half in
length. 1t is we'll designed as a utiI-
itarian structure and will fulfiu all
proper demands of traffic and COM
merce. On account OF its unusual
length 1t can easily be appreciated
that enormous expense would be in
vowed to incorporate in 1t suitable
embellishments that would take IT
out Of the utilitarian class, and make
1t satisfy the demands of a memorial.
The physical site of the bridge
presents conditions difficult to treat
artistically. but which are not out of
character for a utilitarian structure.
me approach from the Perth Am
boy side Is along a narrow strip of
land between manufacturing plants
which consist of unsightly buildings,
nigh smoke stacks. brick kilns. etc.
rms Is obviously an improper set
ting for the approach to a dignifled
memorial bridge. The South Amboy
SIDE of the river Is even worse. Here
Continued on page 1917