Evening star., 1952-07-04
Walks -Four Miles Across Chesapeake Boy-vo the New Brio
BY George Kennedy
Stur Stoff Coyrespondent

| ANNAPOLIS, Md, July Al
walked across the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge yesterday.
1t was no great feat. Most of
the deck is completed. But there
is section where the concrete is
only II feet wide. with steel floor
grids on either side. And there are
no guard rails.
To cross it is not exactly walk
ing tight rope. But when you
step on that outside grid to let
tractor pass and unwillingly look
down on the glistening water $50
feet below, it does something to
lyou.
Automobiles could cross the
bridge today except for the trac-
tors and cement mixers operating
in this narrow section-the sus-
pension span, which will be the
last to be completed.
The bridge is 4 miles long. I'll
is to be opened on July 80. You
wonder how in the world it is go
ing to be completed by that date.
But when you consider what has
happened since the last span was
lifted into space, you have little
doubt that it will be accomplished.
Ships Look Tiny.
The little ships go by on their
way to Baltimore. They aren'tI
little, but that's the way they look
from the high point of the suspen-
sion span. There are freightersI
with multiple booms for liftingI
cargo, tankers with decks almost
awash. and big ore boat from
Venezuela.
A small craft of unusual ap-l
pearance passes. The men stopl
work to look at it. It is one of the
Navy's new killer submarines, de-
signed to hunt enemy U-boats.
Along the 2,300-foot section thatl
hangs on the cables, men areI
building forms for the concrete
slabs that will bring the roadway
to its full 28-foot width.
There is much work to be
done. The guard rails, one of the
final touches, take a long time to
put in place. You can figure it out
as you walk along.
The men are putting precastI
concrete curbstones. which are
two feet high, into place. AS they
are about feet long and they
must rim both sides of the A.
mile bridge. it takes about 5000
OF them to complete the job. And
it takes as many iron castings toI
hold the two longitudinal pipes
above them-16 miles of pipe.
Much of this work has been done.
but much remains.
Building Confident on Opening.
The bridge builders have no
doubt about the July 80 opening.
Their only worries are about
housekeeping items-whether ALL
the wet paint on the steel will be
covered with the succeeding blue
and aluminium coats and whether
the catwalk, which has enabled
the workers to wrap the cables,
will be removed in time. A sus-
pension bridge is a beautiful
thing. But it doesn't blossom into
full flower until the scaffolding
is removed.
The amount of labor-savingl
machinery is impressive-powerI
saws, portable air compressors
for pneumatic tools, mechanical
paint Stirrers and spray guns.
Loud speakers bark orders given
by men high in the towers. There
is electric power everywhere and
occasional telephones.
At the east end of the suspen-
sion span the bridge descends at
a gentle slope across the bay. Near
the Eastern Shore, there is can
tllever span, which affords pas
sage for smaller ships. Here the
painters with spray guns are Civ
ing the steel trusswork a final
cost. They are covering a beau
|tiful sky-blue- coat with a glisten-
ing aluminium finish.
$4,000 for a Coat.
It costs 1892, 900 to give the
bridge a coat of paint. It is to be
given three coats on the job, in
addition to the original coat of
red paint put on when the steel
was fabricated.
The painters spraying the final
aluminium finish look like figures
in a living statuary show. Even
the hair on the back of their
heads becomes metallic.
In this balmy open weather,
the workers have been reaping a