The Story of Lake Washington’s Floating Bridges

We have steel shortages during World War I to thank for our floating bridges.

The story of Lake Washington’s first floating bridge begins with a man shaving. 

Homer M. Hadley, a 34-year-old civil engineer, had spent years thinking about what he considered one of the biggest engineering challenges around the Northwest—how to bridge vast, deep, muddy Lake Washington, bringing the bounty of the Eastside to the budding metropolis of Seattle. Then, as he was passing a razor over his stubbled face one morning, it came to him.

Hadley already understood something the average citizen didn’t: concrete floats. That morning in 1920, he thought back to his work

→ Continue reading at SeattleMet

Related articles

Comments

Share article

Latest articles