Show WORLDS GREATEST suspension BRIDGE OPENED FOR TRAFFIC IN THE EASTERN metropolis writing in the new york world of the great williamsburg bridge opened tor for traffic in that city last week james creelman says the greatest bridge in the wort I 1 containing tons of steel cost ing and connecting the swarming tenement districts of man alan hattan with williamsburg and the cheap home lands of long island was opened after mayor low and thearin the prin cipal officers of his administration had walked its entire length of 7 feet A few speeches bristling with statis ties tics a club reception an hour of artil lery firing bring a march ot of societies across the giant structure and a really mag ent display of fireworks at night with a parade of tugboats down the east river fitly celebrated the end ol 01 seven years of unbroken work and the inauguration of a bridge with a capa caps city when it is in full operation of passengers an hour there were bands of mus c streams of bayonets bracing cavalry and bat tenes teries of cannon to both hides bides of the mer but the march across was in deep silence mayor low and the bials of manhattan the bronx and richmond wall ed from the manhat tan side borough president swan birom and the officials of brooklyn NEW williamsburg BRIDGE connecting MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN Z ar and queens walked from the wil liams Ilams burg side they met in the mid die of the bridge raised their hats to one another and then trudged to gother to williamsburg where the speeches were uttered to a great mul etude in the new plaza at the en trance to the bridge it was a melancholy but suggestive experience that walk across to wll wil liams burg A raw wind whipped the vast reaches of painted steel beams and reddened the noses of the mayor and the official multitude which shut shuf fled along the roadway coat collars were turned up shiny high hats were difficult to keep on oia and an irreverent raible of photographers raced about aiming their cameras flapping their hands shouting and jostling the half frozen officials there was a faint scent of whisky too fully justified by t weather but the bridge itself how mighty it wa was and how solid under the feet how small it made a man feel to tread that complicated immensity of steel suspended from the two steel by four cables containing 17 miles of steel wire and as the mayor walked on at the head of the shivering mirthless procession with his white flag carried before him he may well have pondered the opening words of his speech no such achievement as this bridge is ever the work of a single man A TRIUMPH OF engineering williamsburg bridge a noble bonu ment to american sk 11 II that the brooklyn bridge after nearly a generation of use has en dured as a highwater high water mark in the bridge line at least in the greater cita cit is no mean tribute to the skill and the daring of the engineers who planned it that the new bridge now surpasses in all important dimen and foot by toot foot cable for cable outclasses the old signally is perhaps the greatest single tion that can be given of its macul tude as the greatest suspension bridge in the world surpassed in length of span only by the firth bridge the brooklyn bridge in fu length tails falls deuced to figures its superiority be I 1 comes even more strikingly manifest r fifty if t y m millions i 1 iio n s m more 0 r e of pa passengers s se n e r s the aby e engineers n g i ne e r estimate s t im a t e w will ili b be e c carried f e d by the transit lines on the new bridge than on the old against the hun dred million who annually cross the older bridge one hundred and fifty million will cross the new the river span of the new bridge Is only five feet longer than that of the old the figure for the former being 1600 1 but the approaches make up the differ ence in the length of the newer ture those of the former measuring 1800 1 feet each while the manhattan approach to the old bridge is only 1562 1 and the brooklyn only fhe towers of the williamsburg bridge built of steel rise feet above high water mark 50 feet higher than the stone towers of the brook lyn bridge while this height will be increased by 20 feet when the orna mental caps are placed on the new structure the height of the new bridge above the river in the exact center is feet the same height as the older bridge the new bridges now in construction will keep the same level the great cables which hold the steel framework measure 18 inches in diameter the four cables contain 41 wires and the supporting strength of each of these cables Is 22 tons as contrasted with 12 for the older bridge while the figures for the weight of the two structures between towers are 7 and 6 tons respectively the williamsburg bridge was begun in october 1896 the first work being done on the foundations of the new york towers it was more than five years vears later on april 9 1901 when amid the salutes of the craft on the water front the two cables were hoisted from the river bed and the actual construction of the span began on nov 11 1902 a fire de strayed the wooden staging breaking out on the manhattan tower feet from the east river burned along the cables and furnished one of the most spectacular conflagrations in the his tory of the city little serious dam ag aga was done to the main structure however and the work was hurried forward although there were many delays incident to the fire the cost of the new bridge will reach about 11 at the pres ent time only the south road roadway ay Is days completed within a few days the north roadway will be opened to pe dest rians and will serve for them un til one of the footways Is completed no arrangement has yet been made for the letting of the car tracks on the new bridge and the elevated ture ends with the bridge at both ends delarcey Delap cey treet at the man hattan terminus is to be widened and the work is to begin soon this street will be widened by razing tene ment houses along the southerly side already hundreds of buildings have been destroyed further east along the course of the bridge and the old re gion of poverty hollow Is entirely de strayed CROSS SECTIONS OF OLD AND NEW BRIDGES COMPARED comparative 74 r 10 6 stations williamsburg k AND I 1 J 27 BRIDGES brorn Engine eiring news 0 20 0 41 6 01 at 6 SA sal A 6 23 71 67 fa 6 4 6 half sect on of the new bridge just short of 6 feet being feet long the new bridge more than 1200 1 feet longer has a total extent of more than 7 feet 46 the old bridge built before the age of trolleys has two roadways now shared by vehicles and surface cars alike the new bridge carries on its double decks two each twenty five feet wide and each unobstructed by trolly as a two double track trolley roadways two promenades to the one of the old bridge each ten and a half feet wide two cycle paths each seven feet wide and a central space for a double track or elevated cars give the new str a total eidth of feet as contrasts cont rastel I 1 with m ith an 85 foot width in the older stricture when the ir creased efficiency of the new bridge jn carrying traffic is re half section of the old bridge |