The first two pontoons that will support for the new State Route 520 bridge are on their way to Lake Washington via Puget Sound, the Washington State Department of Transportation reported.
Pairs of pontoons will be floated out of Concrete Technology Corporation in Tacoma on high tides the evenings of July 23, 24 and 25, according to the state.
“Construction crews have worked for months to build these pontoons, and seeing them float out and towed to Lake Washington this summer will be a huge accomplishment,” said Julie Meredith, SR 520 Program director for the Washington State Department of Transportation in a prepared statement. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us to deliver a new, more reliable floating bridge – and it all starts with pontoons.”
The 44 pontoons being built in Tacoma weigh 2,500 to 2,820 tons and measure about as big as some small buildings — 100 feet long, 50 to 60 feet wide and 28 feet tall, according to the state.
The new floating bridge requires 77 pontoons in all, with 33 larger pontoons to be built in Aberdeen.
In the state's time-lapse video, crews remove the basin gate Sunday, July 22, and on Monday, July 23, maneuver a large T-pontoon into position to help the supplemental stability pontoons float. Around 7:30 p.m. tugboats towed the pontoons out of the basin. The same move will be repeated twice more for the first six.
Kiewit-General-Manson Joint Venture is building 44 pontoons in Tacoma, as well as the floating bridge on Lake Washington for the Washington State Department of Transportation, according to the state.
The state is . The state legislature decided that $2.37 billion of the amount will be paid through state and federal funding and . The rest of the funding has yet to be determined.
More information on the Eastside Transit and HOV Project can be found on the WSDOT website.
