THE NEW TAY BRIDGE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2146, 11 January 1881, Page 3

THE NEW TAY BRIDGE.

The Edinburgh correspondent of the “Otago Daily Times” s-ys; —Mr Barlow, 0.8, who superseded Sir Thomas Bouch as engineer of this great work, is reported to have in great measure matured his plans for the new bridge, with a view to the introduction into Parliament next year of a Bill sanctioning its erection. His recommendations have been arrived at after carefully taking fresh soundings and otherwise going into the matter de novo. Few particulars have as yet been made known regarding his plans, but those which have been published are important. First, and chief among them, is the total abandonment of the portion of the former bridge still standing. He proposes to erect the new bridge close to the site of the old one, to make it lift, lower, and wide enough to carry a double line of rails. It is not yet decided whether the piers shall be of brick or of iron. If the latter, malleable iron alone will be used, and the foundations will be made wider to secure perfect stability. All the statements made go to prove that, taught by disaster, the railway company in re-erecting the bridge will subordinate cost to security. Probably no company of any kind ever received so costly a lesson on the folly of over-parsimony in regard to a great and untried work. As for the Forth bridge, it seems to be almost forgotten in the meantime, and until the Tay is rebridged the Forth traffic will have to be carried on by the ferries as heretofore. Thus a single gust of wind has thrown back by at least ten years the prospects of extensive, populous, and thriving districts.