The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 15

Evening Second Ncwsfront Saturday October 23, 1965 ScCOnd NeWsflOllt Journal Page 15 DELAWARE WILMINGTON terrupted 6hip passage. The new bridge (at right) has heen in use hy the railroad since last October, but its lift mechanism has not heen installed. The OLD AND EW The old Pennsylvania Railroad vertical lift Iiridge across the Chesapeake Delaware Canal now is up permanently to allow unin new hridge and the channel rut beneath it eliminate the sharp bend that now restricts canal traffic at that point to one way at a time. When the new teiiffsi jj S' C. D.

Canal's New Look: Wider Deeper Staff Photos by Bill Snead the old channel through and the old lift bridge contract, completed last month. Just east of Chesapeake City to near Welsh Point, Western Contracting Sioux City, Iowa, $1.4 million contract, completed last month. Near Welsh Point to near Turkey Point on the Elk River, Great Lakes Dredge Dock Co. and Standard Dredging New York City, $3.3 million contract, 55 per cent completed. Opposite Spesutie Island in Chesapeake Bay to Sassafras River, Atlantic, Gulf fic New York City, $1.5, million contract, completed month.

INSTALLATION of mercury vapor lamps for night lighting of both banks of the canal was completed this month from St. Georges Bridge to west of the new railroad bridge. The work was done by Albert Dagger Co. under a $156,000 hridge is ready for use, the bend will be closed torn clown. Bridge, south bank, Frankim Contracting Wil- liamstown, N.J., $1.1 million contract, 20 per cent complet- ed.

rajjroa(j bridge to west of Summit Bridge, Williams Construction Baltimore, $2.8 million contract, to be completed this month, We of Summit Bridge to Maryland-Delaware state line, peter Kiewit Sons, Cleve- land, $2.1 million contract, 99 per cent completed, State Chesapeake City, Hams Brooks, Riverdale, N.J., $1.5 million contract, 50 per cent completed, THE Corps also reported on dredging to deepen the ship channel between: St. Georges Bridge to west of the new railroad bridge, Construction Aggregates Chicago, $3.1 million 'tf i 1' 7 jl ination of curves in the canal at Chesapeake City, and the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge across the passage east of Summit Bridge. These have restricted canal traffic at the two points to one way at a time, according to the spokesman. SCHEDULED for ment is the lift bridge at Reedy Point, which blocks two way ship traffic there. The Corps plans to replace it with a two-level highway bridge.

Work is proceeding on schedule and is about 45 per cent complete now, according to the Corps. Despite construction ac- tivity, the spokesman says, the canal last year carried a record 11 million tons of traf- fic, a million tons more than the year before. CONSTRUCTION of the superstructure on the lift bridge By BILL HAYDEN The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has finished about half the work, needed to make the Chesapeake Delaware Canal a two-way main thoroughfare capable of handling almost all coastal vessels. Work to increase the canal's 27-foot depth and 250-foot width began in 1962 and is scheduled to be completed in 1968.

The Corps says the massive $10-million improvement job was made necessary by the increasing size and displacement of new ships. WHEN completed, the 28.5-mile canal will have a channel depth of 35 feet and a width of 450 feet, a Corps spokesman says, making it usable to 98 per cent of all vessels presently engaged in coastal shipping Also involved in the Improvement program is elim- to replace the one previously used by the Pennsylvania Railroad 3s scheduled for completion late next month by Ingalls Iron Works Bir- mingham, Ala. The new bridge has been in use since last October, but presently is in a fixed posi- tion, the Corps reports. The bridge will be able to be raised to provide 135 feet minimum clearance for ships. The superstructure contract was awarded in March 1963 for $3.8 million.

The con- tract for removal of the old bridge is to be awarded next year, the Corps says. UNDER WAY now, the Corps says, is earth removal and bank stabilization work from: Reedy Point to St. Georges Bridge, north bank, Davis Construction Hicksville, N.Y., $1.3 million contract, 52 per cent completed. Reedy Point to St. Georges 'Vllliniiii jit 1 HumJWiiUMIIHiM TIGHT SQUEEZE Headed for the Delaware River after a trip through the canal, this ship just clears the vertical lift highway hridge at Reedy Point.

The bridge is to be replaced by a high-level fixed bridge. mmm Ym 're" rr -1. 't-- fl GRASSY SLOPES Widening the canal to handle two way traffic by large ships requires regrading and resodding the banks. This is a section between Summit Bridge and the Pennsylvania Railroad lift hridge..