Viaduct

“ The height of this celebrated work from the bed of the river is nearly a hundred feet; yet, to–day it is overtopped by the Midland viaduct, from which, as we glide past, the dell is seen half as much again below. Aqueducts are common enough, and so are viaducts, but it is seldom that we have the opportunity of contemplating at the same moment a twofold series of arches of equal grandeur, the viaduct consisting of no fewer than thirteen. ”

“ But finally the engineering firm of Clarke, Reeves & Co. agreed to build the viaduct, shown above, for a much less sum than any other method of crossing would have cost. This viaduct was built in four months. It is 305 feet high and about 2,400 feet long. The skeleton piers were first erected by means of their own posts, and afterward the girders were placed by means of a travelling scaffold on the top, projecting over about 80 feet. No staging of any kind was used, nor even ladders, as the men climbed up the diagonal rods of the piers, as a cat will run up a tree. ”

“ A day or two after my second adventure in the mineral water works, I was leaning on the parapet of the viaduct—the handsome, red brick viaduct with which some builder, unknown to me, had spanned the pond beyond the Upper Heath, apparently with purely decorative motive, and in a spirit of sheer philanthropy. For no road seemed to lead anywhere in particular over it, and there was no reason why any wayfarer should wish to cross the pond rather than walk round it ”

“ From there to Farringdon Street it will be 1 in 153, or at the rate of 34 feet in the mile; from Farringdon Street to Hatton Garden, 1 in 143, or at the rate of 35 feet in the mile. For all purposes of traffic the Viaduct may therefore be said to be level.
The Viaduct in its formation will include vaultage beneath each footway for the accommodation of the future houses on either side of the roadway; outside these vaults will be a subway for the gas and water pipes, and between each subway, and forming the centre of the Viaduct, the roadway will be carried on a series of arches. ”

“ It is a strange medley of grey roofs, trees, rocks, towers, factory chimneys, quays lined with stores, precipitous streets, tottering dwellings, and defaced churches (one turned into a granary) , arched over by the modern railway viaduct, from the view of which there is no escape, but which, from its very height and solidity, has a certain grandeur of effect. But the old is quite overwhelmed by the new, and even the steep hillsides seem dwarfed by the giant proportions of the viaduct. There is not only more movement, but there is more colour in Morlaix, than we are accustomed to in Brittany ”

“ Far from injuring the aspect of the great arteries of our metropolis, the viaduct, as it has been conceived, will contribute toward giving them a still more imposing look. If the beautiful is, as has been said, the expression of the useful, an elevated railway, well conceived, may be beautiful. The project of a subterranean railway is attended with great drawbacks, not only as regards the great expense that it would necessitate, but also the difficulties of constructing it. ”

“ The weight of all structures was then transferred to the permanent steel viaduct, erected on the sides of the avenue, by timber bents under the transverse girders resting on the permanent steel viaduct, and all weight was thus taken off the central rock core. This core was then excavated to sub-grade, the permanent viaduct was completed, and all structures were placed on its deck, using concrete piers and timber bents. ”

“ The permanent viaduct girders were put in place from east to west across the avenue, and the girders "C" were supported on the deck of the permanent viaduct approximately under the west elevated railway columns before the west portion of the avenue was excavated, the central portion of the south abutment having been constructed before the west portion. This procedure was adopted only at the north girders "C" at elevated railway column No. 488, the south set of girders "C" being on the rock immediately south of the south abutment. Figs. 2 and 4, Plate XLIX, and Fig. ”

“ Fig. 137 gives the particulars of one 60-foot span of a viaduct carrying a double line of railway over tidal water. The main girders are placed one under each line of rails, and all the four are strongly tied together by lattice-work bracing the full depth of the girders. The outside footpaths for the platelayers are carried on strong brackets, riveted to the main girders. Longitudinal timbers, coped with angle iron, are placed as outside guards, alongside each rail, for the full length of the viaduct. Wrought-iron ballast-plates are placed between the running-rails. ”

“ Probably the most interesting feature of this contract was the support and maintenance of Ninth Avenue, which has a three-track elevated railway structure and a two-track surface railway structure, on which it was necessary to maintain traffic while excavation was made to a depth of about 60 ft., and a viaduct was erected to carry Ninth Avenue. The length of this viaduct is about 375 ft., and the steelwork and its erection was done apart from the North River Division work, but all excavation and underpinning was included in this division. ”

“ So that Wellington boasts the possession of the largest wooden building and the highest wooden viaduct, as is alleged, which the world contains.
The viaduct is raised on sixteen concrete basements. It contains 212,000 superficial feet of kauri timber, and there are thirty-five tons of wrought iron used up in bolts, nuts, washers, and straps alone. At a distance it looks like a gigantic web, or the puzzle of a dreaming geometrician. It is 170 feet in height, above the stream, and the span over the valley is 185 feet. ”

“ After puzzling over it a moment, I drew a line above the arches, and said, perceiving no significance in the symbol: “That looks like a viaduct.”
“That’s what I mean,” he resumed, vigorously, and proceeded with an elaboration of his theme, comparing co-operation to a viaduct.
“In the end, the forces for progress will cross to all lands by that viaduct,” he continued, “and those who balk and refuse it will be diverted and delayed by following old [291] paths through the tortuous chasm of competitive destruction. Not that we discourage competition. ”

“ A singular feature of the great flood was discovered at the great stone viaduct about half way between Mineral Point and South Fork. At Mineral Point the Pennsylvania Railroad is on the south side of the river, although the town is on the north side. About a mile and a half up the stream there was a viaduct built of very solid masonry. It was originally built for the old Portage Road. It was seventy-eight feet above the ordinary surface of the water. On this viaduct the railroad tracks crossed to the north side of the river and on that side ran into South Fork, two miles farther up. ”

“ Shoe Lane, now at its northern end but 14 feet wide, is to be increased to 30 feet in width, and to be continued northwards, under the Viaduct, to a new street which is to be formed from the corner of Hatton Garden to Farringdon Road. A complete net-work of streets is to extend from the Viaduct to all the existing adjacent streets, and as at the place at which Holborn ends and the Viaduct commences several of these streets concentrate, with the view to remedying the inconvenience which would arise from a too limited area for traffic ”

“ In that respect this was the worst piece of the line, as there are four cuttings here in less than a mile, and embankments almost all the way between them. But some of the viaducts and bridges are worthy of all praise. Just below here the line crosses and re-crosses the Wrey at a height of rather more than forty feet above the stream, first on a viaduct of two arches and then on a viaduct of three. And these are built of granite, and so well proportioned, that there would be many pictures of them, could they be transferred to{66} Italy and attributed to Roman or Etruscan builders. ”

“ Stone bridges so rarely occur upon the roads of America, that they hardly need remark. The Starucca Viaduct, by Mr. Adams, upon the New York and Erie Railroad, and the viaduct over the Patapsco, near the junction of the Washington branch with the main stem of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, show that our engineers are not at all behind those of Europe in this branch of engineering. From the civil let us pass to the mechanical department of railroad engineering. ”

“ Bridges and viaducts consisting of arches of masonry or brickwork form the most substantial and permanent works of construction for railway purposes; once properly built, the expenditure on future maintenance or repairs is merely nominal. For viaducts the span of the arching must be regulated by the height of the viaduct. The greater the height the larger the span. In one case 30-feet spans may be suitable, whereas in another it may be more economical to introduce spans of 60 feet or more, and so reduce the number of lofty piers. ”

“ On January 30, 1894, the city council passed an ordinance requiring the Union Pacific Railway Company to repair that portion of the said Eleventh street viaduct for a distance of two-thirds of the entire length of the viaduct, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, as grantee and successor of the Omaha & Southwestern Railroad Company, to repair the other one-third portion of said viaduct, said repairs to be made in accordance with plans furnished by the city, and under the supervision of the city engineer, and to be completed within 90 days. ”

“ Then there is Robert Stephenson’s great railway viaduct, the Royal Border Bridge, which it is the fashion to praise up to the skies, as it well-nigh reaches them. As a successful bit of engineering, it is no doubt all very well ”

“ The rugged mountain track descended to the plain in which lay the lakes, and crossed it direct to a viaduct, a straight line some two leagues in length, which pushed its granite walls out into the larger lake, to a huge city, standing white in the sun, and showing a hundred and more towers. Other viaducts cut off from it here and there, while he could see dots moving on the water. ”

“ His first work as an engineer was on railway surveys in Spain in 1852–3. In 1854–5 he was resident engineer on the construction of the Boyne Viaduct under James Barton. This viaduct was probably the earliest instance of the use of metal girders of any considerable span in which latticed bars were substituted for a continuous plate web, and the cross sections of the web members as well as of the fiangea were proportioned to the stresses imposed by the rolling load. ”

“ When stations are placed on, or near a viaduct, or bridge under the railway, a parapet or fence on each side to be provided of sufficient height to prevent passengers, who may by mistake leave the carriages when not at the platform, from falling from the viaduct or bridge in the dark. ”

“ Richly-wooded country lies on either side the road now, and occasionally peeping through the trees, the masts of vessels passing on the Mersey may be observed. The Mersey Viaduct is next traversed. This, though far less grand in appearance than the Dutton Viaduct, is a fine erection of 200 yards in length, consisting of twelve arches, nine being small, and three of larger span, beneath which the river Mersey, and the Mersey and Irwell Canal pass. ”

“ The opening of Holborn Viaduct—An omnibus is the first vehicle to cross it—"Viaduct Tommy"—Skid-men
After a frost or a slight fall of rain, asphalted Victoria Street and Tottenham-court Road, innocent of sand until many poor horses have slipped and fallen and struggled and strained to rise again, are a saddening sight to horse-lovers. ”

“ Thus in the central towers, once they were completed, everything within the area could be suspended, and thus the internal viaduct was built in the easiest manner possible, every length in succession being held up until the girder was complete and able to carry itself. ”

“ The desire for separation of grades led to extensive use of long sections of viaduct construction in urban areas on the Interstate as well as on other freeways. Divided roadways, liberal bridge roadway widths and increased pier and abutment clearances under overpasses became normal safety practices.
The mainline and ramps of the Mission Valley Bridge in San Diego, Calif., are prestressed concrete box girders. Architectural treatment gives the piers an old “Spanish flavor.” ”

“ Emerging from the clough, the difficulty is not which way to get home again, but which pleasant way to give the preference to. We may go past the dyeworks, and through the park to Agecroft Bridge; or turn up the lane that curls back towards Prestwich; or, best of all, make our way under the magnificent viaduct of the East Lancashire Railway, and then across the river to Clifton Aqueduct. ”

“ The traveller who would enjoy glimpses of railroad views, must bear in mind the velocity of his conveyance, and prepare to “see whatever can be seen,” or the most important objects will have glanced by the windows of his comfortable locomotive arm-chair coach, before any second person can warn him of their presence. Emerging from a cutting, which immediately succeeds the viaduct, Dutton Hall is observed on the E. backed by wood. ”

“ The retaining walls in Seventh Avenue, south of the viaduct, and in Ninth Avenue, north of the viaduct, were not governed by the same conditions as in the streets. The dip and quality of the rock at both points required that the walls be carried to sub-grade, and they are, in fact, face walls; the Ninth Avenue wall, in particular, having little thrust to sustain, is very light. ”