Breaking a Traffic Bottleneck

JACKSON, Ala., February 15, 1950 "A traffic bottleneck has been broken . . ."

With these words, Ernest E. Norris, dynamic president of the Southern Railway System, Wednesday dedicated the new two-million dollar bridge over the Tombigbee.

Representative Boykin paid tribute to the Southern as he spoke about what the great new Tombigbee River Bridge meant to lower Alabama.

On hand to hear Norris deliver the dedicatory address on a program that included talks by congressmen and government engineering officials were several hundred persons, including a sizeable delegation from Mobile.

Said Norris: "When I reflect on the increasing need for modern and adequate transportation facilities so that our beloved Southland may continue to grow and prosper, I derive immense satisfaction from this new bridge."

That's the way in which C. E. (Tip) Mathews, state editor of the Mobile Press, started his story reporting activities at Jackson, Alabama, on February 15, 1950, when formal dedication ceremonies were held for the Southern's new bridge on the Mobile division which had actually been opened to traffic one week before.

President Norris is known throughout the South, among shippers especially, for his "doorbell ringing" wherever his business travels take him. And, it was with a common doorbell pushbutton that he signaled for the great lift span of the Southern's new bridge to be lowered into position as he finished his dedicatory remarks. Mounted on the speaker's stand the pushbutton was connected to a buzzer in the bridge operator's control house; traffic-wise President Norris knew that this "doorbell" was as important as any he had ever rung.

Profit was not long in coining. A train such as had never before been seen on the Mobile division headed north over the bridge as soon as the lift span had been locked in position. Seven thousand tons of freight, in 102 cars, made up the trainload which was pulled easily by one of the Southern's four-unit freight Diesels. The length and total tonnage of the train were remarkable; to those who stopped to think of the limited capacity of the bridge that had been replaced, the weight of some of the cars was sensational.

Mobile is a great port of entry for alumina, a partially refined ore from which aluminum is obtained, and the Aluminum Corporation of America ships great quantities of it to plants elsewhere in the country. This company owns many large capacity covered hopper cars used in transporting the ore but none of them, formerly, could operate over the Southern's Mobile division, because of weight restrictions on the old bridge. It was fitting, therefore, that these should be the cars immediately behind the locomotive. There were 27 of them, each weighing about 150 tons or 300,000 pounds. Any single one of these cars would have been enough to cause the old bridge to collapse; in fact, much lighter loads had formerly moved over the old bridge only when spaced out with empty cars in order to distribute the weight loading on the structure.

Others had spoken before Mr. Norris to describe the value of this new bridge to Mobile and lower Alabama:. Among them were Col. W. K. Wilson, Jr., district engineer for the U. S. Army Engineers; Representative Sam Hobbs of Selma, Alabama, who had introduced the original legislation in Congress which defined the manner in which Federal waterway interests and railroa9s could cooperate; and Representative Frank W. Boykin of Mobile in whose district the new bridge and the City of Jackson are located.

The City of Jackson was host to the Southern and other visitors. The Chamber of Commerce arid the city government cooperated to make the program possible and fed every visitor extremely well at a fried chicken luncheon following the dedication. 'The master of ceremonies was Mr. Locke Bolen, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Mayor Walter Wilde Andrews and his wife were active in the planning and preparation of both the celebration and the luncheon.

HISTORY OF RAILROAD

The line of railroad on which the bridge is located was first chartered as the Mobile & Alabama Grand Trunk Railroad Company by Act No.250, Acts of Alabama, 1865-1866. This company built a railroad from Mobile to the Tombigbee River which was completed by September 9, 1873. In 1874 this company was declared bankrupt and the line of railroad was abandoned. After a number of years a new company, the Mobile & Birmingham Railway Company (originally chartered as the Mobile & West Alabama Railroad Company) received its charter (Act No.155, Acts of 1886-1887 and Act No.176, Acts of 1886-1887) and permission to bridge the Tombigbee. The permission required that in crossing the Tombigbee and other named rivers the Mobile & Birmingham "shall place a drawbridge, giving a passage of not less than eighty feet. ..."

The railroad was reopened from Mobile to the Tombigbee in 1887. The bridge was completed and opened to traffic on July 1, 1888, and gave the Mobile & Birmingham a through line of railroad from Mobile to Marion Junction where a connection was had with lines of the present Southern Railway. The Mobile & Birmingham Railway experienced financial difficulties which led to its reorganization in 1895 as the Mobile & Birmingham Railroad. Finally, in 1899, all properties of the Mobile & Birmingham Railroad were leased to the Southern Rail. way Company for a term of 99 years with a renewal clause permitting extensions of the lease at the option of the lessee. This railroad has, ever since 1899, been operated as a part of the Southern Railway Company.

THE OLD BRIDGE

The bridge now replaced on the lines of the Southern Railway's Mobile division over the Tombigbee River near Jacbon, Alabama, was the original bridge erected on this site in 1888 by the Mobile & Birmingham Railway. The old bridge was built under the supervision of Colonel (CSA) William M. Pat ton, a leading civil engineer of his day who was later Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Military Institute and Dean of Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

The old bridge was built of wrought iron and consisted of three spans, two fixed spans each about 275.ft. long and a swing span about 260 ft. long. The superstructure of the bridge was designed and built by the Phoenix Bridge Company and contained about 690 tons of metal. The bridge was supported on five brick piers. The bricks were almost entirely obtained from pulling down old and abandoned warehouses in Mobile. It is believed these bricks were originally brought over from England as ballast in sailing vessels. Estimated to be about 125 years old they were found to be in. excellent condition still when the old piers were replaced with the present concrete foundation piers for the new bridge.

The swing span on the bridge was hand-operated. During the winter of 1891-1892, an engine and one car of coal went through the open draw on the north end of the bridge.

The original cost of the bridge and of a fender placed later to protect the draw span from being struck by river boats was approximately $175,000.

From the time of its original construction until its replacement, the bridge remained substantially as first built. Some additional stiffening members were added and repairs occasioned by damage from river craft were made but there was never a major alteration.

THE NEW BRIDGE

For at least 30 years it has been realized that it would be desirable to have a wider opening in the bridge over the Tombigbee for the benefit of river traffic. However, the railroad traffic on the line did not justify the Southern in spending a large sum to replace the structure in view of the fact that, for railroad purposes, the existing bridge was adequate.'

The passage of the Truman-Hobbs bill by the United States Congress in 1940 resolved the matter. Sponsored by then-Senator Harry S. Truman and Representative Sam Hobbs of Selma, Alabama, the bill provided in effect that where navigation requirements were such as to compel the replacement of structures like the Tombigbee River bridge the federal government would pay the renewal or alteration costs as were required by its demands; the company owning the structure to pay expenses involved in building an improved or stronger structure for the particular benefit of the owner.

President Ernest E. Norris, immediately upon the passage 6f this Bill, informed the War Department that the Southern was prepared to go ahead with the building of a new bridge but the Secretary of War replied that the existing. shortage of construction materials because of the war prevented the issuance of an order requiring the replacement.

During the war the Mobile division carried heavy war traffic to and from the Port of Mobile and the existing bridge, for the first time, was inadequate for all rail- road requirements. Some traffic had to be rerouted because of load restrictions.

As soon as the war was over President Norris again urged the War Department to take action and, finally, on May 27,1947, an order was issued requiring that the old bridge be replaced with one having an opening sufficiently large to provide a channel of 300-feet width with 52-feet vertical clearance.

General plans for the new bridge were submitted by the Southern on July 15, 1947, and conditionally approved by the Secretary of the Army on October 1. Detailed plans were submitted on December 22, 1947, and finally approved on April 13, 1948. Bids were called for on April 16, opened on May 16, and awards made on May 20, with a guarantee of costs made by the Southern as required by the government. Formal approval for the entire project, including the agreed upon division of costs between the government and the Southern Railway was received on July 7, 1948. First work on the site started on July 12, 1948.

THE BUILDERS AND THE COSTS

Consultants and designers of the superstructure were the well-known firm of bridge engineers, Harrington and Cortelyou, Kansas City, Missouri.

Piers and fenders were designed in the office of the Bridge Engineer of the Southern Railway System, W. H. Barnard. In charge of the entire project and negotiations with the government was J. B. Akers, Chief Engineer, Southern Railway System.

The Hardaway Construction Company of Columbus, Georgia, built the two new channel piers which support the lift-span towers. Their contract was for $250,000.

The Virginia Bridge Company of Roanoke, Virginia, fabricated the steel superstructure ($530,000) and erected it on the site ($400,000).

The Ernest Construction Company of Mobile rebuilt the end piers ($110,000) and will remove the other old piers and fender and will build a new fender ( $200,000) .

All other necessary work on the approaches and on the bridge was done by railroad forces.

The guaranteed cost of the project was $1,970,000 divided between the government and the Southern according to the provisions of the Truman-Hobbs Bill.

DESCRIPTION OF BRIDGE

The new bridge is of the vertical lift type and consists of three spans. The lift span is about 335 feet long, the tower spans on each side of the lift span are each 233 feet long. When the lift span is raised, river traffic has a vertical clearance of 52 feet above ordinary high water and a horizontal clearance of 300 feet; vertical clearance when the bridge is in the lowered position is seven feet above ordinary high water.

The towers supporting the lift span are 107 feet in height to the center line of the sheave wheels over which pass the wire ropes by means of which the lift span is raised. The dead load of this span is carried at its four corners by wire ropes which pass over the sheaves and are attached to concrete counterweights in steel boxes. The lift span is operated through wire ropes wound on drums geared to machinery located in a shelter at the center of the lift span.

The bridge is a fully-riveted structure built of silicon steel which has the merit of giving greater strength for an equivalent weight than would plain carbon steel. This was of special importance with reference to the lift span where it reduced the dead weight to be lifted when the draw is opened. About 1,500 tons of steel were used.

The new bridge is approximately 2 1/2 times as strong is the old structure and eliminates entirely any need for load restrictions on trains using the Southern's Mobile division.

NEW FOR OLD IN 30 HOURS

The new bridge was erected in place without interrupting traffic on the railroad except on February 7 and 8, 1950, when the old draw span was cut away and lowered onto barges in the river so that the lift span could be lowered into position. The bridge was closed to traffic from 5 a.m. on the 7th until early afternoon on the 8th.

No serious accidents to employees of the railroad or of the contractors occurred while the bridge was being built. Every possible safety precaution was observed including keeping a patrol boat in the river beneath the bridge to rescue any unwary workman who might lose his footing or make a misstep.

And that's how a traffic bottleneck was broken.