Puyallup River Bridge

The Puyallup River Bridge crosses the Puyallup River in Tacoma, Washington, carrying State Route 509 from Portland Avenue to Milwaukee Way. Walter & SCI Constructors, was awarded the project in the fall of 1994, based on a bid price of approximately $23M for the cast-in-place segmental alternative.

The cast-in-place segmental alternate has a total length of 1460 ft. The four span structures have end spans of 285 ft. and twin main spans of 445 ft. The roadway has a width of 74 ft. and carries 4 lanes of traffic. The cross-section varies in depth from 24 ft. at the piers to 11 ft. at the center of the span.

The box girder has three vertical webs and is post-tensioned transversely. The structure was built in balanced cantilever construction using two pairs of conventional form travelers. The contractor was able to achieve 3 segments per week per pair of travelers on the last cantilever built.

Construction began in June of 1994 and the superstructure was completed in June of 1996. The project opened to traffic in the Fall of 1998.