Bridge Goes From Seattle to Cowichan Bay, B.C.

Yesterday afternoon, I went down the hill from our house to the small village of Cowichan Bay for a cup of coffee at one of the local cafes. I was quite surprised to look out over the water and see large sections of a floating bridge tied to a pier out on the bay!

From RV Blog Misc. Pics - 2009

So, as soon as I got back home, I googled “Cowichan Bay and floating bridge” to find that a Victoria, B.C. firm, Marker Developments, has paid $750,000 US for 1,000 metres -- or just under half the length -- of Washington state's Hood Canal Bridge and is in the midst of transporting it in sections to Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island.

The 2,398-metre Hood Canal bridge was opened in 1961 and is being replaced in a six-week, $500 million US project. It is the third-largest floating bridge in the world and connected the Olympic Peninsula and Kitsap Peninsula across Hood Canal. Maybe some of you have travelled over this bridge in your RV’s.

The jewels in the buy are the 11 massive floating concrete pontoons. The floating concrete structures are made of hollow cells and create a deck surface that allows them to be used for a variety of marine uses. This could include a breakwater to protect harbours, a great surface for piers, temporary buildings can be built on them and they can be used for commercial/industrial purposes like floating surfaces for loading wood.

In Cowichan Bay, workers will demolish the concrete and road structure and refurbish the pontoons to make them useable. Once that is compete, some of the pontoons will be sold to a a number of interested parties who have designs on them.

From RV Blog Misc. Pics - 2009

So, my afternoon trip for a coffee, turned out to be a lot more interesting than I ever thought it might be.