HISTORY AND HERITAGE Committee

The Seattle Section History & Heritage Committee’s charge is to fulfill the goal of ASCE’s History and Heritage Committee (HHC), which is to enhance the knowledge and appreciation of the history and heritage of civil engineering for professionals and the public alike.

• More about the History and Hertitage Committee
• ASCE Seattle Section Archives
• Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
• Link to National ASCE History and Heritage Committee web page

Get Involved

The group welcomes new members to its regular meetings, and is also actively looking for people who are willing to work independently to document historic landmarks in the area. Please contact the chair if you are interested in participating or have an idea for a candidate landmark.

Shortlist of potential landmark candidates:

• Wilburton Trestle
• The Red Brick Road, Redmond, WA
• L. C. Smith Tower, Seattle, WA
• Skagit River Gorge Hydroelectric Project, Newhalem, WA
• Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge, Seattle, WA

Announcements

The ASCE Seattle Section History and Heritage committee submitted an award proposal in September 2007 to recognize the Lacey V. Murrows Bridge and the Mount Baker Ridge Tunnel as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In October 2007 it received notice that the ASCE History and Heritage Committee at the national level voted to recommend the project for designation as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The ASCE Board of Direction will consider their recommendation at its meeting in April 2008. View the entire report

The original bridge was built in 1940 to carry traffic for US 10 (later I-90) between Seattle and Mercer Island. The bridge was the largest floating sturcture in the world at the time it was constructed, spanning 1.5 miles of water that is over 200' deep.