Bridges and Their
Engineer
SO'li: fact* about the vn*t
amount of bridge construction
which lia* been carried out in
recent year* under supervision
of the State Highway Com¬
mission.
By
В.
II. C’OWFK
Wm. L. Craven, bridge engineer of
the State Highway and Public
Works Commission since 1916. He
is shown holding part of a limber
screw pile removed from an old
bridge over Riders Creek, near
Columbia, Tyrrell County, estimated
to be from 75 to 100 years old.
000.00 and the bridges over stream,
have co.t *37,000,000.00 In addition
to the above lb' re are about 13,000
bridge, of Id-foot .pan on the County
Rood system wbieb have been main¬
tained bv the llighwav Commission
since 1931.
Financed by the State
Beginning in 1921 all Slate High¬
way bridge construction ha. hen
financed by the Slate High* ay Com-
mission alone or with the aid of the
Federal (Sovenimrnt. Prior to that
time the bridge, «ere constructed by
the eitiea and rountir., with Federal
Aid in some raw^ Since 1921 there
ha. been i|M-nt approximately #7,000,-
000.00 in the maintenance of bridge.
.ign., plan, and general .tipervi.ion
of construction for over #57,000,000
worth of bridge and building,
since the beginning of our State
Highway Commission.
Wm. L Craven, Bridge Engineer
for the North Carolina State High¬
way Commission, i. a native of Con¬
cord, X. 0.. and a graduate of North
Carolina State College. After gradua¬
tion from college be spent several
year* in Pennsylvania with various
bridge fabricating ami construction
companie*. He then returned to
North Carolina where he was as¬
sociated for a time with a bridge con¬
struction company and then opened
an oilier a. Consulting Bridge
Knginrrr in Burlington.
Started in 1915
In 1915 the l.-gidaturr authorised
the fir-t State Highway Commi>.ion
in North Carolina, the principal
dutie* of which were to give advice
and engineering aid to >ueh of the
counties a. relucted it and to do
propaganda work in the interest of
letter road.. At the end of 1916 the
Commi.sion eon.iMrd of wren mem-
lers. including Governor Craig at
Chairman, ten engineer, and one ste¬
nographer. There were also five
со-
o|eratitig engineers a.dgnrd to the
State by the Bureau of Public Road..
I hiring I9ltl Mr. Craven was retained
by the Commission a. Consulting
Engineer on various bridge project*.
After the disastrous flood of 1918 in
the western part of the Slate the
demands on the Commission for ad¬
TIIKHK are several ways of
getting from on* side of a
•tream to the Other, including
the ancient grai*> vine method -hut
a bridge is preferred. The same is
true of railroad eroding., although
going under the tracks is a. accept¬
able as going over.
At the
ргем
time there arc ap¬
proximately 3,000 bridge on our
State Highway system, 2,500 of
which have been built by the High¬
way Commiaaion, the remaining 50)
being built by others prior to the
time the road* were added to the
State sy.tcnt. Since the Highway
CummisMon wa* first organized, 97
railroad overhead cravings have been
built and 73 underpaues, and there
are also 31 overheads and 39 under-
on the State system which
- built by the railroads and cilice.
The construction of the 170 grade
separation structures under the
Mi[*-rvi*ion of the Highway Commis-
-ion ha* cost approximately #8,500,-
on the State system, and since 1931
approximately #5.000,000.00 on the
maintenance and replacement of
bridge, on the County Road system.
There has also
Ь.ч-п
spent by the
Highway Commission about #1,500,-
000.00 for building |M-rmanent, fire-
Iroof prison eani|" and #500,000.00
>r remodeling and fireproofing the
Central Prison in Raleigh.
Some of the bridge* built by the
State Highway Commiuion since it*
inception an- now completely out of
date a. to location, roadway width
and capacity, although entirely
modern at the time of construction.
It would res|tiire approximately #22,-
000,000.00 to replace or bring up
to date the estimated 1,500 bridges
on the Stale .y.tcin alone which are
lelow a Standard of 10 ton* in capac¬
ity or 20 foot clear roadway. How¬
ever, this fart in no way detract*
from the credit that should he given
to the man who has been responsible
for the
vice relative to bridge* became so
great it wa. decided to employ a whole
time Bridge Engineer. Mr. Craven
entered the employ of the
ry field surveys, de- in Drcs-mter 1918 a. Bridge Eng
