PROPOSED BRIDGE FROM CALIS TO DOVER.

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 256, 3 September 1867, Page 3

PROPOSED BRIDGE FROM CALIS TO DOVER.

j The French papers have /lately described an engineering project, of which the model would be as remarkable as anythiug no^-to be seen in the great International Exhibition, while the" work itself would be a new wonder of the world. "Instead of the long mentioned tunnel beneath the Channel, a French engineer, M. Boutet, now proposes to build a bridge across it. The b2'idge, .according to the published scheme in the " Moniteur," would be broad enough to hold a double line of railway, a carriage road, and a path for foot, passengers. There would also be space for a row of shops along tnis Dover and Calis road, which, once established, would no doubt become a very popular thoroughfare; and, need we add, that half-way across, there would be a restaurant and cafe? The bridge would vest on a series of thirtytwo vertical rectangular iron 'piles, each pile to be 200 metres in height and 100 metres in breadth. The depth of the Channel between the t iro points selected is found to be not more than from thirty to". thirty-six metres,' I so that the bridge would be about 1 70 metres above the level of the sea. In laying down the bridge the first step taken would be to connect the iron piles by means of sixteen ciblcs of plaited wi're,"stretrciied in parallel lines from Shakspeare'a Cliff on the English side of the Channel to Cape Blanc Nez on .the French side, a" distance of thirty-three v kilometres (about twenty miles). The bod,y of the bridge would thus be formed of iron tresses sketched from pile to pile. M. Boutet believes that he could hang a suspension bridge across the Channel from cliff to cliff. In his eyes it is only a qiiesqion of proportion. If a wire of a certain strangth and thickness will hang extended between two given points, then if the strength and thickness of the wire be increased, the distance between the 'points niay . be increased proportionately. However, in the project now before the public the proposed bridge may be look upon as a succesrion of bridges — from pile to pile. Several objections to the monster bridge are anticipated by .the inventer, and more than provided against. The iron ipiles, for instance, would not be nice 'things for a vessel to run' against ; but they would be of great value as lighthouses, and, accordingly, each pile would be fitted with a signal light. The, cost of this Anglo-French bridge is estimated at 400,000,000 of francs ; and M. Boutet, having deposited his plans at the Ministry of Public Works, actually proposes to form a company with that amount of capital. It is said that, for the benefit of the incredulous, a practicable model of the bridge is about to be constructed across the Seine at Paris.