ELWHA RIVER BRIDGE

The Elwha River Bridge in Port Angeles, Washington opened to traffic on September 25, 2009. The bridge replaces an aging one lane steel truss bridge built in 1914.

The 589 ft (180 m) structure includes a 255 ft (78 m) main span with 132 ft (40 m) and 201 ft (61 m) side spans. The bridge was built using a combination of cast-in-place balanced cantilever and cast-on-falsework construction methods. Typical segments measured 14.7 ft (4.5 m) long by 31 ft (9.5 m) wide at deck level and 16 ft (4.9 m) wide at the webs. The western cantilever required one of the form travelers to follow a horizontal curve with a 185 ft (56.4 m) radius while remaining on the narrow box deck. After closure of the superstructure spans, a pedestrian walkway composed of 15 ft (4.6 m) wide by 6 in (152 mm) thick precast panels was suspended from the soffit of the box using steel hanger rods spaced every 8 ft. (2.4 m) The bridge accommodates two 10 ft (3 m) traffic lanes and two 4 ft (1.2 m) shoulders on the box girder deck.

The Elwha River Bridge project won #7 in the 2010 Roads & Bridges, Top Ten Bridges Award.