John Lyle Harrington, Ernest Emmanuel Howard

“ The following limitation, which is included in your franchise to the only railway company now operating, sets out the maximum weights of locomotives, cars and trains which should be per- mitted to operate across the bridge. This should be your guide for granting permission for operation of trains or cars on the bridge:
“No car or locomotive of any character weighing in excess of 100,000 pounds gross load, or having any single axle load in excess of 25,000 pounds, shall be pemlitted on the structure; and no cars weighing over 80,000 pounds having a length of less than 20 ft. ”

“ Actively advocated by an increasing number of men well known in Oregon and Washington, the demand for a bridge became crystallized. during the early months of 1912, in a movement by the Commercial Club of Vancouver, Washington, and the then Commercial Club of Portland, Oregon, which finally resulted in the enactment of laws by the States of Washington and Oregon permitting Clarke County, Washington, and Multnomah County, Oregon, to provide funds by voting bonds and to join in the construction of a bridge. ”

“ At times of extreme flood, the high water covers the entire three-mile width of valley and extends from Vancouver to the city limits of Portland.
The Columbia River at the bridge site is 3,500 ft. wide, with a maximum depth of 30 ft. at extreme low water and with variation from extreme low to extreme high water of 33 ft. The water rises each spring to about 20 ft. and about once in four years to 25 ft. So far as known it has reached 33 ft. only once. The bed of the river consists of sand, with small amounts of gravel, extending to great depths. ”

“ Your Engineers prepared a tentative draft of a franchise which was submitted and critically passed on by the other members of the advisory committee, and after the submission of several reports by this advisory committee, with extended discussions by your Commission and representatives of the various traction companies interested in the tentative drafts submitted, your Commission on September 1, 1916, adopted a general form of franchise, setting forth the general conditions under which special franchises to any company for the operation of cars over the Interstate Bridge would be granted. ”

“ The object of this rip-rap is to prevent material scour of the river bed adjacent to the piers. Once a year for the next five or six years, after the high waters have passed, soundings should be made around the piers. If the rip-rap is found to be lower than about twelve feet above the elevation of the bottom of pier base for the Columbia River piers, or six feet above the bottom of pier base in the sloughs, some additional rip-rap of the same kind should be deposited. The elevations of bottoms of pier bases is shown on the drawings. ”

“ The occurrence of ice in the Columbia River in sheets or floes of large size is very rare, so that the concrete piers need no special protection of steel or stone facing.
The bridges over the sloughs consist of deck spans providing a roadway and floor of the same type and character as previously described, except that the girders are placed 23 ft. apart transversely and a portion of the roadway and the sidewalk is carried on cantilever beams, and there are other minor details of differences, such as necessary trolley poles, etc. ”

“ The foundation piles are cut off a few feet below low water so that the upper ends of these piles are imbedded into the concrete of the bases of the piers from 15 to 20 ft. and the piles form a definite portion of the pier. It is evident that even though some unusual scour should, on some extraordinary occasion, extend below the bottom of the base, the pier would still be perfectly stable, owing to the great depth of penetration of the piles and to the rigidity of their upper support. ”

“ Power Supply:
Soon after the bridge was put into service it appeared that the electric power supplied by the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company from their long feeder line from Portland did not hold up sufficiently in voltage to give prompt and speedy operation of the lift span. After investigating various possible sources of electric power supply, your Engineers recommended the installation of a rotary transformer at Vancouver so that adequate power might be there supplied, independent of the street car power line. ”

“ Can be lifted to 136 ft. above the tops of the piers. The towers extend to 190 ft. above the roadway.
to a minimum. All of the gears are cast steel with cut teeth. There is duplicate motor equipment with either motor of sufficient size to operate the bridge.
At the ends of the fixed spans adjacent to the movable span there are provided roadway gates of substantial design to make an effective barrier across the roadway, and these are connected to derailing switches in the street car tracks so that when the gate is closed across the roadway, the derail is thrown. ”

“ The corresponding expansion joints for the rails between the spans consists of manganese-steel castings placed beside the webs of the rails, for which one side of the rail heads is planed off.
The towers supporting the lift span are of simple construction, riveted throughout, so arranged that the front columns of the towers support all the loads of the lift span and counterweights. The rear columns are bracing members. The lift span is suspended from each of its four corners by sixteen plow steel wire ropes, 2 ins. diameter, which pass up and over cast steel sheaves 12 ft. ”

“ At expiration of franchise, and failure of Commission and Company to agree as to its renewal, the Commission have the right to purchase such of the Company's tracks as are on the embankment forming a part of the structure. ”

“ The rail connections at the ends of the movable span are simple scarfed joints so that the span lifts away from the fixed rails and returns to them without any movable devices. The machinery is designed with great care and nicely. Gears and pinions which operate together are set in cast steel frames so that they could be adjusted and built complete in the shops; the adjustment of parts of the machinery in the field being reduced
THE COLUMBIA RIVER BRIDGE.
Near view of Vancouver end showing details of towers and lift span. ”

“ Although composed of the Commissions of two counties situated in different states, having different laws and different interests, differing greatly in wealth and population, and contributing different sums of money, we have found the Commissioners, while jealous of the rights and tenacious of the prerogatives of the community each represented, always fair and reasonable and ready to find some common equable ground for adjusting differences so as to permit the work to go forward. ”

“ For the through spans the trusses are spaced ~11 ft. center to center, with the roadway between and the sidewalk beyond one truss. The floor is a reinforced concrete slab 51,4 ins. thick, and the sidewalk is also of reinforced concrete. The arrangement of the beams and of the concrete slab for the floor merits attention, as it is new and original. Between usual floor beams are longitudinal stringers spaced about 9 ft. center to center. On top of the stringers, extending entirely across the roadway, there are 8 ins. ”

“ There was, of course, a very considerable run-off of sand from the embankment, as well as a certain amount of fine material which flowed away with the waste water, and it is estimated that about 250,000 cubic yards more than the above net amount was transported. The discharge pipe line was extended to a length of about 5,500 ft., working from the dredge alone. For the greater distances a booster pump was installed in the line to give additional impetus. This pump was operated by a single 1,000-horsepower motor operating with considerable overload. ”

“ The specifications described the special equipment, which would be required for sinking these piles, an equipment which proved to be adequate and which accomplished the work, so that the piers as they stand are on piles which on the average extend into the river bed 25 ft. deeper than the bottoms of the piers of the railroad bridge adjacent. The conditions of the Columbia River and of the Oregon Slough were deemed to be particularly f avor— able to the erection of practically the entire bridge by building the spans on shore and floating them to position. ”

“ BUILDING THE PIERS.
Pile-driver equipment used to sink the foundation piles for the glen. The leads are 122 ft. high above the water; the overhang is 2 ft. in front of barge. Equipped with two hoisting engines, two pumps. and 800-H.P. boiler.
The marked economy of design came from a thorough study of local conditions and local possibilities for materials, and a fitting of the design and the plans to realize every possible advantage so offered. Possibly nowhere in the world are extreme1y long timber piles available at as low a price as at this bridge site. ”

“ The embankment for the two approaches in Vancouver has a total length of about 500 ft. The embankments across Hayden Island and in the main approach to Union Avenue are 42 ft. wide on top. The embankment of the secondary approach to Derby Street is 40 ft. wide on top and on the Vancouver approaches the widths conform to the widths of the streets occupied. ”

“ In this connection, we desire to call to your attention that only a small amount of rip-rap has been placed at piers 11, 12 and 13, owing to the sand bar, whose top is above the top of these pier bases. In case the river channel should shift and this sand bar disappear, it will be necessary to place considerable rip-rap around these piers.
(6) Embankments:
Embankments, especially where resting on soft subsoils, and against which there may be overflow, are subject to deterioration or damage through several years and often do not finally consolidate for a long time. ”

“ The steel storage yard, the yard tracks, the launching ways and five nearly completed spans are seen. and each consisted of a heavy trestle with bents of piles spaced 5 ft. centers of live piles each with suitable caps. On each were four timber stringers 10 ins. by 20 ins. and on top of the stringers eight lines of 2% ins. steel rails. Each span was erected by derrick cars operating on tracks running along each side of the falsework, and after all of the steel was in place and all of the rivets driven, the span was rolled out on the launching ways, using 22 rollers 11,42 ins. ”

“ For several years at times of extreme high water you should have embankments patrolled throughout, giving particular attention to the ends, so that cutting or washing may be stopped in incipient stages. ”

“ In addition to a No. 2 Vulcan Steam Hammer, the driver was equipped with two 4 ins. diameter jet pipes, 110 ft. long, connected by flexible hoses to the pumps. Water was supplied to the jets by two 12 ins. x 18 ins. x 10 ins. compound duplex pumps, each having a capacity of 1,000 gallons per minute. One four-drum hoisting engine and one two—drum hoisting engine supplied the power for handling the equipment and were all furnished steam from an 800-horsepower boiler. ”

“ On August 18, 1916, your Engineers submitted plans and specifications goveming the paving of all embankmcnts, providing for the taking of bids upon various types in order to secure the fullest competition, and providing also for various widths of pavement pending the settlement of franchise matters over the approaches and the decision of your Commission as to the paved width to be provided. ”

“ Application was made to the War Department and tentative approval was received for either type of movable span, provided the swing span should have two channels, 200 ft. wide, or the lift span should provide one channel 250 ft. wide, with a vertical clearance of 150 ft. above normal high water. As has been stated, bids were received on both types of structure and it de— veloped that the lowest bid for the bridge, including a lift span, was about $70,000 less than the lowest bid for the bridge, includ— ing a swing span. ”

“ Electric railway rails— Manul'acture and delivery . _ . _ _ . . _ t _ . _ _ _ . _ . _ , . _ . . _ . . . . . _. 3.0th per pound Erection .............................................. _ _ 0.400 per pound Concrete roadway slab and bitulithic paving . . _ _ . . l _ _ . _ _ . l . .- “.18 per square yard
Concrete sidewalk slabs . ”

“ Net area of sidewalk slab outside of outer face of curb _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ . . . _ _ . . . . . _ _ _ .—2,417.7 square yards
Concrete in railings and ornamental posts . _ . . _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . "84.3 cubic yards
II.
OREGON SLOUGH BRIDGE
SUBSTRUCTURE—CONTRACT No. 9
Concrete in shafts and copings of all piers and buried piers, above tops of bases _ _ _ _ _ . . _ . . _ _ _ _ __1,634.3 cubic yards
Reinforcing metal in piers and buried piers _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ --25,742 pounds
Mass in bases of piers from the bottom of base to the top of base . . . . _ . ”

“ DERBY STREET Arraomznz
Embankment in place . _ _ . . _ . . . i . . . _ . . . . _ . . . . , . . . _ . . . , _ _ . . _ __ 16.48c per cubic yard Slope protection slabs _ _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ . . . , . . . _ . l . . . . _ _ _ . . _ _ _ . . . . . _. 90.00c per square yard Rock fills . . . _ . . . . . . . _ . . . . . _ . . . _ . _ . . . . , . . . . . . _ . l . . t l . . _ _ . . .. $2.15 per cubic yard (solid measurement) Broken stone in maeadam pavement . . . ”