Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
WO76034-A
Date(s)
- 1953 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
ca. 1953. This aerial view of the northeast section of the Tacoma tideflats from 1953 shows part of the Port of Tacoma, lower left, and the 185-acre Port Industrial Yard which was acquired by the Port in 1959. Five mothballed WWII baby flattops are moored in the Port Industrial Waterway. The incomplete Port Industrial Waterway bridge, later named the Blair Bridge, can be seen at the right. The bridge opened for traffic on November 14, 1953. The bridge is 712 feet long with a 40 foot roadway and 5 feet of sidewalk on one side only. It has a clearance at high tide of 12 feet. There is a 150 foot channel between the main piers for the passage of shipping vessels. The two main channel piers are 45 x 55 foot and house the operating machinery, counterweights and electrical equipment for opening and closing the span drawbridge. They are the equivalent in height, measured both above & below the water, to a seven story building. The cost of the bridge was $1,600,000. (TNT 11/13/1953, special section #D)
Aerial photographs; Port of Tacoma (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Aircraft carriers--Tacoma--1950-1960; Harbors--Tacoma; Aerial views; Blair Bridge (Tacoma); Port Industrial Waterway Bridge (Tacoma); Vertical lift bridges;