Progress
 

I haven't been commuting much this winter, as our weather really has been horrible. But finally, I'm getting back into it. Feels goooooood!!!!! :)

Anyway, here's a few pics of the latest progress on the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. I think they said it will finally be complete this Fall. As you can see, it's much wider than the old bridge, and will have a full 8ft wide bicycle lane seperated by a concrete wall from the rest of traffic. Much nicer than the 3ft wide path of death we currently have to ride on.

Also notice the nice Friday afternoon sunny sky I had to enjoy on my commute. Clear enough to get a nice veiw of the spring snow covered Olympic Mountains.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...0/DSC00933.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...0/DSC00934.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g2...0/DSC00936.jpg

Awesome. Glad to see they kept cycle traffic in mind in the design.

Beautiful Bridge you guys got there

Port Orchard to Tacoma? Killer commute!

Excellent photos Patriot...unfortunately you can't capture how bad the traffic gets there! Can you even imagine how bad it's going to be the day they open that thing up and have to reroute, hopefully they do it at about 0200.

The bridge is just over 1 mile long (for those wondering).

You know, oddly enough, my commute does not usually occur during the rush hour, because of my shift. So, even driving for me is usually smooth sailing.

Also, my commute is 45 miles round trip. Lots 'o fun. :)

FYI:

Have any of you seen the video, I believe it's black and white, of the bridge swaying radically side to side. You can see a lone car about half way across rocking with the bridge. This is where that bridge used to be and it actually sits on the bottom of puget sound.

^^^ That was the first bridge they built, before a wind storm came and blew it down. They did not accomedate for strong winds in the original design.

Yep! It's pretty cool how the put the grates in the new one to let the wind pass through them instead of becoming a sail.

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

You noticed a touch of my sarcasm, eh? :D

It was supposed to be done this spring, but they got set back when all the wire had to be sent back because some unacceptable corrosion was discovered. Hopefully, it really will be done before winter. It's hard for them to get alot done once the winter storms come.

the video of that bridge swaying is what they showed us our first day of engineering orientation in college... a nice "what not to build someday" video :)

Here's a couple links
http://www.ketchum.org/bridgecollapse.html
http://www.gigharborguide.com/video/TacomaNarrows.wmv

http://www.nwrain.com/~newtsuit/reco...rows/gg003.jpg