For more than a decade, the construction world has kept an eye on efforts to build a new State Route 520 floating bridge—the world’s longest—which connects Seattle to points east on Lake Washington. But after its grand opening in April, attention on the shiny new bridge with a roadway elevated 20 ft above the floating pontoons has faded. Now crews have turned their attention to removing the old bridge.
Located mere feet to the south of the new bridge, the 7,580-ft-long concrete pontoon bridge may no longer have a purpose in Seattle, but the pontoons will live on in projects worldwide. Dismantling the bridge has become a priority as part of the larger $2.38-billion bridge project expected to wrap up before this winter, with a tricky detensioning job a critical part of the process.