Homer Hadley and the Hollow Concrete Bridge
Near Woodinville, Washington
The bridge you may be crossing here carries the name of Homer Hadley, a Washington engineer who pioneered a technique that changed how America builds over water. In the nineteen thirties, Hadley championed the hollow concrete pontoon, a floating bridge design adapted to the deep, unstable mud of Lake Washington. His first crossing, completed in nineteen forty, was the longest floating bridge in the world at the time.
He used the same hollow-box cellular construction for several spans across the state, proving that concrete could float reliably for decades. The parallel span that carries his name opened in nineteen eighty-nine and was named for him in nineteen ninety-three, and his idea of floating concrete runs beneath every vehicle that crosses Lake Washington today.
