Hood Canal Bridge
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The Hood Canal Bridge, as the William A. Bugge Bridge is commonly known, carries Washington State Route 104 across the Hood Canal from the Olympic Peninsula to the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. (Template:Coor dms) It is the third longest floating bridge in the world, at 7,869 feet (2,398 m). When the pontoons were attached for the first time, and then towed into place and anchored, sea conditions in the Hood Canal were too severe and the pontoons were returned to a nearby bay until a better method to attaching could be devised. It was decided to use a large rubber dam between each of the two pontoons as they were attached, clean the concrete surfaces of all marine growth, epoxy, and tension them with a number of cables welded to a variety of attachment points. This system seemed to work from when the bridge opened in 1961 until the disaster of 1979.
The Hood Canal Bridge suffered catastrophic failure during the February 13, 1979 Windstorm. Fortunately the bridge had been closed to highway traffic, the drawspan opened beforehand due to the excessive winds, the tower crew had evacuated, and no casualties resulted. The broken span was unusable for approximately three years, and the replacement cost for the western span was $143,000,000. There is considerable evidence that the failure was caused by hatches blowing open and water flooding in. In addition, a complete investigation seemed to be blocked by the eventual settlement between the state and the insurance company -- too many facts might have gotten in the way of a settlement.
The official name of the Hood Canal Bridge is the William A. Bugge Bridge, named after the director of the Washington State Department of Highways from 1949 to 1963.
The bridge opened as a toll bridge, but tolls were lifted in 1985 after a court ruling that the insurance settlement constituted repayment of the construction bonds.
Image:Hood Canal Bridge-figure411.jpg In August 2003, the Washington State Department of Transportation started to work on replacing the pontoons on the bridge. The site in Port Angeles selected for the casting, when grading started, revealed human remains and then cultural artifacts associated with a centuries-old beachfront village of Tse-whit-zen of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and its ancestors. On December 10, 2004, the Tribe asked WSDOT to leave the site. On December 21, 2004, WSDOT announced its intention to pursue construction elsewhere.
