Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation

Structure Information

Today, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a twin span connecting the city of Tacoma, Washington with the Kitsap Peninsula. The original 1940 single span was infamous for its swaying deck and the entire structure collapsed during a wind storm after only a few months of service. The current westbound suspension bridge replaced the collapsed crossing with a technically advanced span. The eastbound bridge was completed in 2007 and expanded capacity from 60,000 to 90,000 vehicles per day

Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies

D.S. Brown worked closely with project engineers to design and manufacture a pair of Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assemblies with unique application-specific requirements. These extremely large joints are designed to allow movements of the eastbound span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge during dramatic wind and seismic activity with up to 56 inches of structural swaying.

Conventional large movement expansion joint devices are limited to primarily longitudinal movements and/or less than +/- 0.8 inches(20mm) transverse displacement. D.S. Brown’s Maurer System Swivel Expansion Joint Assembly is ideal for long span structures with demanding differential longitudinal movements caused by wind, thermal and seismic conditions.