BRIDGES OF THE WORLD

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3446, 22 March 1932, Page 6

BRIDGES OF THE WORLD

The great bridges of the world fall into three main classes —arch bridges, such as that at Sydney, cantilever bridges, and suspension bridges. The girder bridges are usually more of the nature of viaducts.

Among the longest arch briges are the Hell Gate Bridge in New York, 977 ft. span, completed in 1915 at a cost of £2,500,000, and carrying four railroad tracks; the Niagara Falls Bridge, with an 840 ft. span, made up of three arches of 190, 840, and 210 feet, and finished in 1898 at a cost of £108,000; and the Dusseldorf Bridge, with six spans, two being of 595 ft.) which was built in 1898. The Kill Van Kull Bridge, which was recently opened, links New Jersey and Staten Island and cost £4,000,000. It is 25 inches longer than the Sydney Bridge. The cantilever bridges include the Forth Bridge, with spans 1710 ft., the two main spans measuring 3420 ft., and the total length to back of the abutments being 5330 ft. The bridge was finished in 1890, and cost almost £3,000,000. The bridge towers 361 ft. above high water. The Queensborough (New York) Bridge measures 7449 ft. with its approaches, and cost £4,000,000, and carries road and railway traffic. The Quebec Bridge, another great structure, was finished in 1917, and its main spans are 1800 feet long, the total length being 3238 ft. This bridge cost £1,800,000.

Suspension briges are headed by the recently opened George Washington Memorial Bridge, which holds the distinction of being the longest bridge in the world. This bridge spans the Hudson River, joining the States of New York and New Jersey, and took four and a-half years to erect. Its cost was 60,000,000 dollars, and its span is 3500 ft., about two-thirds of a mile, while its approaches made the total length about two miles. It carries eight lines of traffic, and is able to accommodate 30,000,000 vehicles a year, with provision for

this number to be doubled at a later date. The Bear Mountain Bridge, finished eight years ago at a cost of £550,000, spans 1632 ft. and has a total length of 2238 ft. to the back of the abutments. It is used for road traffic only. The Brooklyn Bridge, the most famous and earliest of America's great bridges, was constructed in 1883 at a cost of £3,730,000, and carries a road and railway tracks between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Its spans are 3455 ft. in all, and its main span is 1595 ft. The Manhattan Bridge, which, is now 23 years old, cost £3,470,000, and its main span is 1470 ft., the whole length being 2920 ft. It is a road and railway bridge. The Camden Bridge, linking Pennsylvania and New Jersey, spans 1750 ft., and cost £7,000,000. It was finished six years ago and its total length is 2466 ft.

All these bridges are mighty works, but the San Francisco Bridge will be longer. It will cost £6,000,000, according to the present estimates, and will take five years to build. The total distance from shore to shore across the Golden Gate, which it is to span, will be 5357 ft. There will be three spans, the main one being 4105 ft. It will carry six lines of road traffic and two footways, and its clearance height will be a minimum of 210 ft. Street car lines will also cross it.