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L. R. Durkee Collection on the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge Construction Project, 1938-1941

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Durkee, L. R. (Lindley R.), 1899-1988
Title
L. R. Durkee Collection on the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge Construction Project
Dates
1938-1941 (inclusive)
Quantity
4 boxes, (1.26 cubic feet)
Collection Number
2003.30 (accession)
Summary
Photographs, engineering reports and professional diaries documenting the construction of the Lacey V. Murrow floating bridge on Lake Washington.
Repository
Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library

P.O. Box 80816
Seattle, WA
98108
Telephone: 2063241126 x102
library@mohai.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public by appointment.

Languages
English.
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Biographical Note

Lindley R. Durkee was born in Delta, Colorado on September 14, 1899. He attended Montana State College (1917-1921) and graduated with B.S. degree in Engineering. In June 1923, he married Josephine Jones (1898-1944). They had one daughter, Patricia, who married James J. Loughran Jr.

Durkee began his engineering career in Seattle, employed by Grant Smith and Co., A.W. Quist Co., and Teufel and Carlson. He went on to work for the City of Seattle Building Department (1925-1926) and the King County Commissioners (1930-1931). In 1933, Durkee entered the Federal Public Works Administration and served as the Chief Project Engineer during construction of the first Lake Washington floating bridge (1938-1940).

After completion of the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, Durkee became a regional director for the Defense Public Works (1941-1945) and later worked as an engineer for the Bureau of Community Facilities, Federal Works Agency. He was active in professional organizations, clubs and community activities, including the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce. In 1948, he received an honorary degree from Montana State College and a scholarship was established there in his name. In 1960, he received the Engineer of the Year Award from the Washington Society of Professional Engineers. Lindley R. Durkee died on January 15, 1988.

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Content Description

The collection consists primarily of 8 x 10 inch captioned and dated photographs taken by Washington photographer Alfred G. Simmer (1876-1958). Simmer was a German immigrant who established a commercial photography studio in Wenatchee in 1921. When his business was destroyed in a fire in 1939, he moved to Olympia and began working with the Washington State Highway Department documenting construction projects.

The Lake Washington Bridge Project was divided into 11 separate contract units, three of which (Units 3, 4 and 5) composed the Lacey B. Murrow Floating Bridge approach and structures. The majority of the photographs are in chronological order and grouped according to subject units:

  • Unit 1: Grading and paving the Seattle bridge approach
  • Unit 2: Drilling and constructing the Mt. Baker Ridge Tunnel
  • Unit 3: Construction of the bridge piers and transition span
  • Unit 4: Manufacture of the pontoons and barge transport through Ballard Locks
  • Unit 5: The Mercer Island approach to the floating bridge
  • Unit 6: Grading and paving Mercer Island highway
  • Unit 7: Underpass and overpass on Mercer Island, administration building and toll plaza
  • Unit 8: Grading, paving and other work on Mercer Island
  • Unit 9: Construction of the fixed span East Channel Bridge
  • Unit 10: Grading and paving the main line and side roads
  • Unit 11: Construction of new bridge over the Mercer Slough

An additional folder contains photographs removed from the Final Construction Report (some duplicates) and includes portraits of the key personnel, charts, maps, technical diagrams, miscellaneous construction views, and the bridge dedication ceremony.

The Final Construction Progress Report published by the Washington Toll Bridge Project (November 1940) summarizes each stage of the construction process and lists contractors and subcontractors for each unit, along with final cost accounting.

L.R. Durkee’s daily work diaries provide a detailed accounting of his time spent on the job, including weather conditions, status reports, meetings, engineering issues and project milestones.

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Historical Background

When the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge opened in July 1940, it was the first reinforced concrete floating bridge ever built and the largest floating structure in the world. The Lake Washington floating bridge greatly reduced travel time and distance between Seattle and the Eastside. In 1939, ferries transported nearly a million foot passengers across Lake Washington, or motorists used a dangerous one-lane road around the lake traveling between Seattle and the rural communities of Kirkland, Bellevue and Mercer Island.

Preliminary work on the project began in 1937, funded by $4 million from the Public Works Administration and a local bond issue of $5.5 million to be repaid with tolls. The bridge was named in honor of Lacey V. Murrow (1904-1966), Washington’s Director of Highways. In 1937, Murrow approved the controversial plan for a concrete pontoon floating bridge. The Murrow Bridge was originally the brainchild of engineer Homer Hadley, who in 1921 proposed a “floating concrete highway, permanent and indestructible, across Lake Washington.”

The entire construction project was approximately 7 miles in length, beginning at Rainier Avenue in Seattle and terminating east of Lake Washington near the small community of Factoria. It was a complex, multi-contract process that included acquiring right-of-way, demolition, grading, paving, drilling a twin-bore tunnel, manufacturing and anchoring the pontoon bridge structures, and constructing the Mercer Island Roadway, East Channel Bridge, Mercer Slough Viaduct and Toll Plaza. The twin Mt. Baker Ridge Tunnels were the world’s largest diameter soft-earth tunnels ever drilled in 1940. The 25 concrete pontoon bridge sections were constructed on Harbor Island and then towed across Elliott Bay through the Ballard Locks into Lake Washington. The project was completed within budget and on schedule, without worker fatality.

Beginning in 1989, the bridge underwent repairs and renovation, including the construction of a parallel span to accommodate the increase in traffic between Seattle and the burgeoning Eastside. As part of this construction, in November 1990 workers drilled holes into the hollow concrete pontoons to temporarily store run off water from the hydrodemolition. While the pontoons doors were still open a storm hit, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. The pontoons filled with lake and rain water and begun to submerge, causing the original bridge deck to sag, break, and gradually sink to the bottom of Lake Washington. The cost of the disaster was $69 million; a new Lacey V. Murrow bridge opened the following summer.

The Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, Mt. Baker Ridge Tunnels, and the east portal relief sculptures are designated Seattle Historic and National Engineering Landmarks.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in digital format by clicking on the camera icons in the inventory below.

Restrictions on Use

The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

L. R. Durkee Collection on the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge Construction Project , Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

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Administrative Information

Location of Collection

15a.1.9-10

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jonathan Seib; received in 2003

Processing Note

Photographs were numbered and foldered in their original order, according to project subject units.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Simmer, Alfred G., 1976-1958 (creator)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Bridges--Design and construction
  • Bridges--Washington (State)
  • Lacey V. Murrow Bridge (Mercer Island and Seattle, Wash.)
  • Mount Baker Ridge Tunnel (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Pontoon bridges--Washington (State)
  • Tunnels--Washington (State)

Corporate Names

  • Washington (State). Department of Highways

Geographical Names

  • Mercer Island (Wash.)
  • Seattle (Wash.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Photographs

Finding aid prepared by Sue Terrible
2015

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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