Hood Canal Bridge
Coordinates: 47 ° 51 ′ 35 " N , 122 ° 37 ′ 28" W.
 Hood Canal Bridge
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| Official name | William A. Bugge Bridge | |
| use | Washington State Route 104 | |
| Crossing of | Hood Canal | |
| place | Kitsap County and Jefferson County , Washington | |
| Entertained by | Washington State Department of Transportation | |
| Building number | 104/5 | |
| construction | Pontoon bridge | |
| overall length | 2398 m | |
| building-costs | $ 26.6 million | |
| opening | August 12, 1961 | |
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The Hood Canal Bridge , officially William A. Bugge Bridge , is a floating bridge in the US state of Washington . It leads Washington State Route 104 from the Kitsap Peninsula over the Hood Canal to the Olympic Peninsula . Of the 2,398 m long bridge, 1988 m are designed as a floating bridge, which makes the bridge the longest floating bridge in the world in salt water. The bridge was opened in 1961 as the second concrete floating bridge in Washington State and represents an important link for the local population and tourism.
history
The planning of the bridge took nearly ten years. Many engineers doubted whether it would even be possible to build a floating bridge over salt water , especially in the Hood Canal, a fjord-like branch of the Puget Sound . At the point where the bridge was to be built, the tidal range is up to 5 m and can be intensified by wind and current effects in the inlet. The water is 100 m deep at this point, so the construction of a suspension bridge was ruled out because the foundation of the pylons seemed impossible.
The pontoons for the bridge were manufactured in the Duwamish River near Seattle, towed on site and bolted to the floating bodies there. During the assembly, storms damaged the screwed connections, so that their design had to be changed and a new manufacturer had to be found for the pontoons.
The bridge was opened to traffic on August 12, 1961 with a delay of 15 months. On the opening day, an eight-kilometer traffic jam formed of people who wanted to be the first to cross the new bridge.
The structure was officially renamed William A. Bugge Bridge in 1977 , after the former chairman of the Washington State Roads Department, during whose tenure the bridge was built.
Sink of the bridge in 1979
The western half of the Hood Canal Bridge sank in a severe storm at around 7 a.m. on February 13, 1979 . The storm brought winds of 140 km / h and gusts of up to 190 km / h, the waves were 3 to 4.5 m high. The bridge was closed to traffic at the time because the shear bridge was opened during storms to reduce the lateral forces on the structure. Half of the bridge had sunk because water had penetrated the floats through open maintenance hatches and the anchoring cables had failed.
After considering other solutions, such as the establishment of a ferry connection or the construction of an underwater tunnel , it was decided to rebuild the missing half of the bridge with government support. The reconstruction cost 143 million US dollars and the bridge was opened again on October 3, 1982. As a precautionary measure, the bridge will be closed to traffic if the wind speed is above 65 km / h for more than fifteen minutes.
Renewal in 2009
Between 2003 and 2009, the eastern half of the bridge, which was not sunken in 1979, as well as the two trusses, the fore bridges, the drive of the push bridge and the electrical system of the entire bridge were renewed for 500 million US dollars. Dry docks were to be dug near Port Angeles for the construction of the float pontoons . The project had to be abandoned at the end of 2004 and a new place to be found because the archaeologically well-preserved former Klallam village of Tse-whit-zen was discovered during the work . The renewed bridge was put back into operation on June 3, 2009 after a six-week total closure.
Building
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The floating bridge consists of 23 pontoons that are bolted to two continuous floating bodies and are connected to each other with a push bridge for shipping. Each float weighs around 5000 t. The floating part of the bridge is anchored with steel cables to 42 concrete blocks weighing 500 t each on the seabed and connected to the shore bridges on both sides with an 85 m long truss .
The shipping opening is 180 m wide. It is used by the Ohio-class submarines to reach Naval Base Kitsap . The bridge is opened by lifting the road segments adjacent to the shear bridge by 2 m and pulling the shear bridge back under them.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Hood Canal Bridge opens on August 12, 1961. HistoryLink.org, March 23, 2005, accessed November 27, 2013 .
- ^ A b Priscilla Long: Hood Canal Bridge sinks during a severe storm on Tuesday, February 13, 1979. HistoryLink.org, August 5, 2003, accessed on November 30, 2013 (English).
- ^ Hood Canal Bridge Project. (No longer available online.) Bridgepros, archived from the original on November 14, 2006 ; accessed on November 30, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ David Wilma, Kit Oldham: WSDOT abandons Hood Canal bridge graving dock project located on site of Klallam Indian village and cemetery on December 21, 2004. HistoryLink.org, August 16, 2005, accessed November 30, 2013 .
- ^ SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge open again - eight days early. WSDOT June 3, 2009; archived from the original on November 13, 2010 ; accessed on November 30, 2013 (English).
- ^ SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge lift span lowers. Retrieved November 30, 2013 .
