Daily News from New York, New York • 792

UNM BARON PEDESTRIAN walkway, with subway tracks alongside, is in need of repair but these two strollers don't seem to mind. By CHARLES EATON "We are going to cut into the casings at the top of the cable to see what we find up there. The fate of the entire Daily News Staff Writer Is the Williamsburg Bridge too far gone for adequate repair, or can a massive infusion of tens of millions of dollars and a little tender loving care whip it back into shape again? The in-triguing-and frightening-answer appears to be: No one seems to know at this time. The 85-year-old partial suspension bridge connects Clinton and Delancey in lower Manhattan, with Broadway and Roebling St, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, 7,300 feet away. It is termed a partial suspension bridge because only the center span is fully supported by the giant steel cables.

Both side spans are carried by a combination of cables and a series of massive support pillars. Although the span's foundations are cracked, its towers and structure rusted and its roadways badly worn, it is ho fmif (riant pohlae hrttHt rrt i rx UA bridge hinges on what we find beneath the casing and the splay casting," he added. "We have already opened the cable at the center of the bridge and discovered damage there." 'We just don't know' The already exposed cable is colored rust brown on the bottom of the wires and is pitted and cracked along the top, the result of decades of rain water running from the tops of the cable and collecting at the bottom, as well as the acidic properties of bird droppings. "We don't know what we'll find at the top or inside the splay casing," said Schwartz. "We could find hundreds more broken strands.

Right now we just don't know." Almost unbelievably, the bridge stands alone as being the only steel span ever built without the benefits of galvanized steel. The galvanization process coats the steel with a layer of 7inn trh nrovont nviHatiAn of the Brooklyn explained Schwartz. "They wanted to build it faster, cheaper, longer and in less time. They succeeded in reaching all their goals, and we are now paying the price." Designed by Lefferts Buck, the bridge was built at a cost of $24,188,090, nearly $1 million less that the Brooklyn's Bridge's $25,094,577. Interestingly, the cost of galvanizing the cables in 1903 would have been about $1 million dollars.

The Williamsburg is 4Vfe feet longer than the Brooklyn Bridge and was constructed in half the time. An integral link The bridge is an integral link in the intricate system of roadways connecting Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Aside from the 134,000 cars, trucks and buses that cross it on a normal business day, it also supports two subway lines on two tracks and has an expansivethough sadly neglected promenade where the more energetic can either walk or bicycle across. Loss of the Williamsburg Bridge would be a major blow to commuters. Traffic would be forced to use the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridge, both of which are already heavily overburdened, and the Transit Authority would face the loss of two more Brooklyn-to-Manhattan tracks.

The TA already has had to cope temporarily with the loss of two tracks on the Manhattan Bridge while the state Department of Transportation goes forward with repairs to that ailing span. Problems to the Williamsburg Bridge are far worse, however, and it only takes a trip down to the bridge's giant anchorage chamber to begin to get a clear picture of just how serious the problem is. The giant cables that support the center span all originate below the floor of the anchorage chamber. As the 19-inch-thick cable comes into the anchorage from the span, it travels through a splay casting. It then divides into 37 strands made up of 208 wires each.

The strands are then attached to steel I-bars which are imbedded in 130,000 tons of concrete. 'Serious situation' Schwartz points out that three of the four giant cables are deteriorating, though they are in fairly good condition at this time. The commissioner said his immediate concern, however, is Cable the bridge's northernmost cable, which he said is deteriorating at a far more rapid rate. Its individual wires are showing severe rust on their undersides, pitting along their length, and an alarming tendency to break. Engineers have yet to determine why the damage is.

so extensive to just one cable. "This is what we are monitoring now," explained Schwartz as he pointed to several damaged strands. "The rust and the pitting bring on a loss of area, and a loss of area means a loss of strength. This is a serious situation." There are several broken wires pulled away from the main cable. When Schwartz asked a bridge inspector how many, he was told 190.

Ordinarily, they would be spliced and the tension restored, but more severe measures are being taken to try and determine the extent of the problem. Schwartz said it doesn't take much imagination to realize what benefits would have been reaped had the pro- nnfi- IwkA ttAil Vi 4 1 center span that are causing the most concern. City officials admit that signs of serious deterioration are evident throughout the entire bridge and that the safety of the span will be thrown into doubt if nothing is done by the mid-1990s. Samuel Schwartz, chief engineer and first deputy commissioner of the city Department of Transportation, heads the panel that is trying to decide whether the bridge will be rebuilt or replaced. He believes that the city is now nearly a century after the bridge was completed paying the price of competition.

"The builders of the Williamsburg Bridge were answering the challenge cables had been galvanized, I don't believe we would be facing this problem now," he added. A tiny wooden shack sitting just outside of the cable room houses a computer that, in effect, monitors the very heartbeat of the bridge. The instrument measures the bridge's movement down to millionths of an inch. A printed graph remains somewhat stable until a subway train passes overhead. The roar and rumble of an.