390
The Rio Grande Bridge of the Pacific Railway of
Costa Rica.
The people of the United States are particu
larly interested at this time in their near neigh
bor, the Republic of Costa Rica, on account of
the building of the Interoceanic Canal. The
population of Costa Rica is composed, in the
main, of small farmers, who own their lands.
The soil is particularly rich and fertile, the
principal products are coffee, bananas, cocoa,
rubber and lumber. The coffee and bananas
are considered the finest in the world, and
command the highest prices in the American
and European markets.
The country is far from being opened up,
owing largely to the present poor facilities for
transporting merchandise to the east coast. A
large proportion of this merchandise is export
ed, and considerable is imported by way of the
Pacific coast, notwithstanding that the only
means of transportation at present is the slow
going ox cart, at a cost of $1.60 per cwt. The
fact that hundreds of these primitive convey
ances can be seen daily on the national high
way between the Pacific coast and the interior
is more than sufficient to demonstrate to even
a casual observer the great advantages that
will accrue to the country and its commerce
by the completion of the Interoceanic Rail
way, as nearly all the principal towns and
villages, and all the mining camps and centers,
with fully two-thirds of the population of
the entire country are situated on the Pacific
slope.
In connection with this matter, it is of inter.
est to state that the present tariff of the At
lantic Railway from Port Limon to San Jose is
as follows: $19.78 American gold per ton, first
THE ENGINEERING RECORD.
class; $17.90 American gold, second class;
$12.43 American gold, third class, for a haul of
about 100 miles. The passenger tariff is four
cents per mile.
The Pacific Railway of Costa Rica is needed,
and, when completed, will be 60 miles long.
It will extend from San Jose, the capital of
the republic, which is connected by rail with
the Atlantic coast, to the Pacific coast, passing
through the richest and most thickly populated
section of the country. This connecting line
will give easy and quick communication be
tween the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It is
located about 60 miles north of the Nicaragua
canal route and, when completed, will be the
only trans-continental line south of the South
ern Pacific Railway, although another line is
now under construction by the Mexican Gov
ernment and its bridges are being built by the
contractors for the bridge described in this
THE RIO GRANDE RIVER BRIDGE.
article. The gauge of the road is 3% feet, with
a maximum grade not exceeding 2% per cent.
through the mountain district. The total cost
of the road, when completed and equipped, will
be $3,000,000.00 American gold. The govern
ment has paid, up to April 1, 1902, $1,126,925.75
American gold, in cash, and has issued a cor
responding amount in bonds.
The road is now completed and in operation
from San Jose to a point 20 miles beyond the
Rio Grande River crossing, a total distance of
about 46 miles. The grading and masonry is
also finished for some distance beyond this
point, and includes all the heavy and mountain
ous work. There are a few small bridges, but
the great obstacle to be overcome was the
crossing of the Rio Grande River. At the par.
ticular point where this crossing was made, it
required a bridge approximately 685 feet long,
Vol. 46, No. 17.
with the rails not less than 340 feet above the
Water.
The height alone is not unprecedented, and
the span, although considerable, has been ex
ceeded by many recent structures. The com
bination, however, of length of span and height
is remarkable and is exceeded by only two
structures, the Garabit Viaduct and the Mung
sten Bridge. A third bridge, that across the
Noceschlacht valley at St. Giustans in the
Tyrol, which is probably the highest in the
world, is 453 feet above the water, but has a
span of only about 197 feet.
A comparison between the Rio Grande River
bridge and the Birriz viaduct, also in Costa
Rica, shows in a very striking manner the rad
ical difference in design and erection of two
structures in the same locality and under simi
lar conditions which were built by foreign en
gineers of different nationalities. The Birriz
\
º
º Nº.
|
º -
***
º
- - º ºº:: * > .
viaduct has four 156-foot single-track lattice-gir
der deck spans supported on three iron towers
from the bottom of a valley about 200 feet
deep. The spans were erected in the axis of
the bridge on a level platform beyond one abut
ment, and when two of them were completed
they were fastened together to make a contin
uous structure and were projected across the
abutment on rollers until the pilot trusses 54
feet long, which were temporarily attached to
the advance span, engaged rollers on top of the
first pier and took bearing there. The second
and third spans were successively erected and
connected to those previously built and the in
creasing mass was pulled across the valley by
a wire rope and windlass on the opposite abut
ment, the pilot successively engaging the roll
ers on the pier tops and farther abutment.
The Rio Grande River bridge is of special