August 21, 2000

A look at the Wes Smith Bridge

The $3 million Wes Smith Bridge in the Snohomish County town of Index was finished last fall by Mowat Construction.

The 250-foot-long structure, which spans the North Fork Skykomish River, was designed by the Bellevue office of HNTB Corp.

The bridge features a continuous cast-in-place concrete deck slab that was designed to eliminate the need for lateral bracing of the floor beams and tie girder.

It is 38 feet wide, 65 feet high and features a pair of 11-foot traffic lanes, as well as shoulders and sidewalks.

Construction required 1,220 tons of concrete, 338 tons of structural steel, 1,433 feet of steel cable and 45,000 steel bolts.

Wes Smith, the bridge's namesake, was on-hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony last fall. A resident of Index for 80 years, Smith also was on hand to witness the construction of the original wooden plank bridge that the new bridge is replacing. That was in 1918.

The original bridge, which was rehabilitated in 1980, had since been classified as structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. When construction of the new bridge started, the old bridge was relocated upstream and used as a temporary detour.

The new bridge won a merit award in the National Steel Bridge Alliance Prize Bridge Competition of 2000.

Do you have photos of recent projects? Share them with DJC readers. Send high-resolution images and information to lisa.lannigan@djc.com.

Previous columns:

• A look at the First & Republican Building, 08-14-2000
• Johnson Street Townhomes, 08-07-2000
• DJC Project of the Week -- Alderwood Companion Animal Hospital, 07-31-2000
• Admiral House offers special homes, 07-24-2000
• Fish return to Fauntleroy Creek, 07-17-2000
• Woodmont Library, 07-10-2000
• Challenger Learning Center of Alaska, 07-03-2000
• Columbia Fitness Center, 06-26-2000