Rating:
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Hood Canal Bridge

Kitsap County, Washington, and Jefferson County, Washington

Photos 

USS Ohio (SSBN-726) at Hood Canal Bridge

Photo taken by Shawn Handley, USN

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View this photo on Wikipedia

BH Photo #333480

Map 

Street View 

Brief history of the Hood Canal Crossing 

Written by K. A. Erickson

For years engineers floated the idea of a bridge across Hood Canal instead of ferries plying back and forth but faced challenges of environment, an arm of an ocean, high winds, currents and tides. In the late 1950s construction began and took three and a half years. The official unveiling was August 12, 1961. The governor, Albert D. Rosellini, cut the ribbon as an estimated crowd of 6000 cheered on.

When the director of WSDOT, William A. Bugge retired in 1977 they officially named the bridge in his honour. Locals never refer to the bridge as this though, it has always been the Hood Canal Bridge.

A devastating wind storm that struck on February 12, 1979 sank the western half of the bridge. After a lengthy study, the WSDOT decided to just replace the lost western section.

The bridge was restored to operating condition and traffic resumed on October 25, 1982. It consisted of two concrete and two Warren truss approach spans, twenty-nine floating concrete pontoons, a concrete elevated roadway over the pontoon decks, two draw spans, and forty-two submerged concrete anchors.

In 2003 the WSDOT began a project that would replace the entire bridge piece by piece, starting with the approaches, to minimize the impact that a full closure would have on traffic. Work was complete by 2009.

For historical purposes the Hood Canal Bridge is what has been mentioned as the paradox of Grandfather's Axe. The grandson inherited his grandfather's axe from his father but he replaced the handle while his father had once replaced the blade. There has been a bridge or at least sections of it at this site since 1961 but anything from that vintage is long lost.

Selections taken from: Spanning Washington, by Craig Holstine and Richard Hobbs. Pgs 179-183

Facts 

Overview
Pontoon bridge over Hood Canal on WA 104
Location
Kitsap County, Washington, and Jefferson County, Washington
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1961, Sank 1979, Reopened 1982, East half replaced 2009
Design
Pontoon supported concrete stringer with a moveable center section. At each end is a 280 ft Warren truss (no verticals, built from welded tubes) that is hinged on one end and floating on the other.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 496.1 ft.
Total length: 7,869.0 ft. (1.5 mi.)
Deck width: 40.0 ft.
Also called
William A. Bugge Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+47.85838, -122.62197   (decimal degrees)
47°51'30" N, 122°37'19" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
10/528276/5300629 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Port Gamble
Average daily traffic (as of 2016)
17,725
Inventory number
BH 48140 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 52 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Beam (17,271)
Built 1961 (245)
Built during 1960s (2,186)
Concrete stringer (883)
Floating (44)
Have street view (30,135)
Jefferson County, Washington (12)
Kitsap County, Washington (13)
Modern (2,499)
Movable (3,175)
Open (41,352)
Over a mile long (322)
 Owned by state (16,740)
Pontoon (45)
Retractable (20)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,301)
Through truss (18,516)
Total length over 2500 feet (971)
Truss (37,697)
Warren through truss (1,735)
Warren through truss with no verticals (33)
Warren truss (7,159)
Washington (1,399)

Update Log 

  • February 17, 2022: New photos from Mike Garland
  • April 26, 2021: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
  • June 5, 2016: New photos from Mike Goff
  • October 28, 2014: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
  • May 27, 2013: New photo from Jann Mayer
  • October 10, 2012: Updated by Jann Mayer: Added truss details
  • February 1, 2012: Photo imported by Luke Harden
  • August 31, 2011: New photo from Luke Harden
  • February 15, 2011: Essay added by K. A. Erickson

Sources 

  • K. A. Erickson
  • Wikipedia - Hood Canal Bridge
  • Luke
  • Jann Mayer - jannmayer [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Mike Goff - michael [dot] goff [at] hotmail [dot] com
  • Geoff Hubbs
  • Mike Garland - Rapier342 [at] comcast [dot] net
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Comments 

Hood Canal Bridge
Posted February 2, 2012, by Scott Gavin (fatpiecat2 [at] charter [dot] net)

We drove across this bridge a couple times in the late 60s and it was an experience. When there was a long, rolling tidal swell, we could feel the bridge rising and falling with the swell, which was rather creepy to me as a kid. You don't expect your bridges to have "give" in them.