Submitted by Kiewit-General, a Joint Venture
At 1.5 mi long, the Hood Canal Bridge is the longest floating bridge over salt water in the world. Crews had to deal with changing tides, variable wind conditions and marine traffic, including U.S. Navy submarines.
The project spanned almost seven years and involved several phases in multiple locations. Twenty new concrete gravity anchors weighing 1,000 tons each were constructed at Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle and floated to the bridge site where they were carefully placed at pre-determined locations on the bottom of the canal. Crews replaced the east and west fixed approaches to the bridge. Other work included fabricating and launching individual reinforced concrete pontoons and assembling individual pontoons into major subassemblies. Several of the bridge sections weighed over 500 tons and had to be lifted into place using two derricks.
With 25,000 cars crossing on a daily basis, the Hood Canal Bridge is a critical link to the Olympic Peninsula, which otherwise has only limited and long-distance alternatives. Over the course of the project the bridge was closed for periods greater than one hour on only three occasions.
The contractor achieved a 100% rating during the Quality Evaluation conducted with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation
General Contractor: Kiewit-General, a Joint Venture
Engineers: Parsons Brinckerhoff/WSDOT
Subcontractors: AVAR; Brundage Bone; Elcon; DBM Case Foundations, JV; RPM Steel
Suppliers: Concrete Technology; Bosch Rexroth; Jesse Engineering; Panatrol; Todd Pacific Shipyard, Glacier Northwest
