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Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge

King County, Washington
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Photos 

General View From Overlook Just Above Tunnel Entrance Looking East

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Street View 

Description 

The pontoon portion of this historic bridge was destroyed, when it sank during maintenance, in the 1990s. The pontoons were rebuilt with multiple compartments inside each to minimize the chances of sinking again.

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Steel through arch Potoon bridge over Lake Washington on EB I-90
Location
Seattle, King County, Washington
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1940; rehabilitated 1992
Design
Steel through arch and Pontoon
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 227.0 ft.
Total length: 740.2 ft.
Deck width: 51.8 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Mercer Island Bridge
Lake Washington Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+47.58917, -122.25556   (decimal degrees)
47°35'21" N, 122°15'20" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/555971/5270907 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Seattle South
Inventory numbers
000000KP0000000
BH 48137 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 05/2015)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 83.4 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2012)
66,003

Categories 

Arch (11,096)
Built 1940 (890)
Built during 1940s (3,487)
Have street view (21,423)
King County, Washington (190)
NR-listed (2,837)
Open (35,954)
 Owned by state (13,236)
Seattle, Washington (51)
Span length 175-250 feet (1,783)
Steel through arch (201)
Total length 500-1000 feet (2,476)
Washington (1,143)

Update Log 

  • November 1, 2014: Updated by Royce and Bobette Haley: revamped description for accuracy
  • February 14, 2011: Added by Nathan Holth

Sources 

  • Nathan Holth
  • HAER WA-2 - Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Floating Bridge
  • Wikipedia - Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge
  • Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
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Comments 

Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge
Posted February 15, 2011, by K. A. Erickson

It is not NRHP listed anymore. That was the only part much like the now replaced Hood Canal Bridge half of which sank in a storm in 1979. Hood Canal had trusses on both ends now it is some ugly welded metal cage. Work was done in 2009 when the old sections were moved out to be replaced with the new portions. They still close Hood Canal periodically for "testing." Personally I think they built a lemon.

The contractors that were supposed to renovate the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge shown here in 1990 drilled holes all over the thing and then somehow expected it to survive in one of the hurricane like storms we can sometimes get late fall or winter. The contractors blamed the state for "harsh environmental laws" which led them to doing what they did. Some of the bridge wreckage was salvaged, for scrap, a landing strip for airplanes, and breakwater for a marina.