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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.11.11 21:40l 58 Lines 2758 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 25
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Sent: 111125/1906Z 14279@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.0.4
Nov 25, 1990:
Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge sinks to the bottom of Lake
Washington
After a howling wind- and rainstorm on Thanksgiving Day,
Washington state's historic floating Lacey V. Murrow Memorial
Bridge breaks apart and sinks to the bottom of Lake Washington,
between Seattle and its suburbs to the east. Because the bridge's
disintegration happened relatively slowly, news crews were able
to capture the whole thing on camera, broadcasting it to a rapt
audience across western Washington. "It looked like a big old
battleship that had been hit by enemy fire and was sinking into
the briny deep," said one observer. (He added: "It was awesome.")
The Murrow Bridge was the brainchild of engineer Homer Hadley,
who in 1921 proposed a "floating concrete highway, permanent and
indestructible, across Lake Washington." Figuring out a way to
cross that lake, between up-and-coming Seattle and its (at that
time) sleepy small-town neighbors to the east, was a particular
challenge because an ordinary "fixed-pier" bridge was out of the
question: The lake was too deep, and its bottom was too mushy.
Still, people scoffed at what they called "Hadley's Folly" (one
civic organization declared that his "chain of scows across Lake
Washington would stand out as a municipal eyesore"), but
eventually, mostly because they had no other options, they came
around to his way of thinking. Construction began on the bridge,
named after the state highways director (and brother of famous
newsman Edward R. Murrow), in 1939; it was completed 18 months
later.
In November 1990, the 6,600-foot-long bridge, made of 22 floating
bolted-together pontoons, was in the process of being converted
from a two-way road to a one-way road. (A parallel bridge had
been completed the year before, effectively doubling the amount
of traffic that could cross the lake.) The state highway
department alleged that construction crews had left the pontoons'
hatches open, leaving them vulnerable to the weekend's heavy
rains and large waves. (For its part, the construction company
refused to accept responsibility for the disaster, countering
that "the probable cause of the failure was progressive bond slip
at lapped splices in the bottom slab...due to failure in bond."
It did eventually agree to pay the state $20 million, however.)
For whatever reason, at midday on November 25, the center
pontoons began to sink. As they disappeared under the water, they
pulled more and more of the crumbling roadway down with them. By
the end of the day, the bridge was gone.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident. The Murrow
Bridge was soon rebuilt.
73, K.O. n0kfq
Another old retired guy
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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