Pasco – Kennewick Bridge
Coordinates: 46 ° 13 ′ 6 " N , 119 ° 6 ′ 14" W.
| Pasco – Kennewick Bridge | ||
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| Crossing of | Columbia River | |
| place | Pasco - Kennewick , Washington | |
| construction | Gerber girder bridge made of steel | |
| overall length | 1007 m | |
| Longest span | 132 m | |
| height | 56 m | |
| Clear height | 16 | |
| start of building | 1921 | |
| completion | 1922 | |
| opening | October 21, 1922 | |
| planner | MM Caldwell | |
| closure | 1995 | |
| location | ||
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The Pasco-Kennewick Bridge or Benton-Franklin Inter-County Bridge , locally even as Green Bridge known was a Gerber girder bridge made of steel and the Columbia River of the center US state of Washington spanned. It connected the cities of Pasco and Kennewick and was the first of three tannery girder bridges built over the Columbia River in the 1920s. After the construction of the Cable Bridge in 1978, a dispute over several years over its demolition followed, which finally took place in 1995.
Establishment
The building was completed in 1922 after just one year of construction. It replaced a car ferry that could only transfer six vehicles in one trip. The bridge was originally planned by BB Horrigan in 1913, but funding could not be secured until 1919 when Charles G. Huber of the Union Bridge Company sold $ 49,000 worth of securities. It was the first bridge of this size to be fully financed through the sale of shares. In the first nine years of its existence, a toll was required to drive on the bridge . The toll was lifted after the original construction costs were paid.
The construction of the bridge was considered a milestone in the development of Washington's economy. The importance of the bridge stems in part from the expectations of residents on both sides of the river and across the state who saw the opening as a historic event - a gala event with speeches, motorcade, picnics, street shows and parades. The Kennewick Courier reporter wrote: "The day the bridge opened to traffic, a new era dawned for both communities."
The bridge was one of the primary links across the Columbia River and became part of the transcontinental Yellowstone Trail , and was the first time the eastern and western halves of the state had cooperated on something that was mutually beneficial.
Washington State bought the bridge in 1931 and incorporated it into the state's trunk road network in 1933.
demolition
After the Cable Bridge was completed, conservationists have been successful in their efforts to have the structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places . So the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) agreed that a referendum should be held if the state wanted to demolish the structure. The citizens of both Pasco and Kennewick voted for the demolition in 1980, prompting the FHWA to review whether the structure could be used for an alternative purpose and thus save it from demolition. Conservationists submitted alternative suggestions to the agency, but the FHWA decided that none of these suggestions were feasible or wise. In the following lawsuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington ruled in favor of the FHWA. The case was then tried by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the earlier decision was overturned. The FHWA has been instructed to conduct a more thorough investigation.
However, the FHWA maintained its previous findings and in 1995 the bridge was demolished. Only a single pillar remained and serves as a vantage point from which the newer bridge can be seen.
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul Dorpat, Sherrard, Jean: Washington Then & Now . Big Earth Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1565795474 , p. 106.
- ^ A b Lisa Soderberg: Pasco-Kennewick Bridge ( English ) In: Historic American Engineering Record . National Park Service . October 1980. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
- ^ A b Elizabeth Gibson: Pasco-Kennewick (Benton-Franklin Inter-County) Bridge spanning the Columbia River is dedicated on October 21, 1922 ( English ) HistoryLink . October 31, 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2008.
- ↑ Donald C. Jackson, McCullough, David G .: Great American Bridges and Dams ( English ). John Wiley & Sons , 1988, p. 314, ISBN 0-471-14385-5 .
- ↑ Jackson & McCullough, pp. 68-70
Web links
- Pasco-Kennewick Bridge. In: Structurae
- Benton Franklin Riverfront Trailway and Bridge Committee v. Lewis , US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 701 F.2d 784