Cable Bridge

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This article is about the bridge in Washington State. For cable bridges in general, see Cable-stayed bridge.

"Pasco-Kennewick Bridge" redirects here. For the bridge replaced by this, see Pasco-Kennewick Bridge (1922).

Cable Bridge

Official name	Ed Hendler Bridge
Carries	Vehicle traffic
Crosses	Columbia River
Locale	Pasco–Kennewick, Washington
Maintained by	Washington State Dept. of Transportation
ID number	085555000000000
Designer	John Clark, Arvid Grant, Holger S. Svensson
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Longest span	752 ft (229.2 m)^[1]
Total length	2,503 ft (762.9 m)^[2]
Width	80 ft (24.4 m)
Clearance below	48 ft (14.6 m)
AADT	8,279 (1994)
Opening date	September 1978

The Cable Bridge, officially called the Ed Hendler Bridge and sometimes called the Intercity Bridge, spans the Columbia River between Pasco and Kennewick in southeastern Washington as State Route 397. It was constructed in 1978 and replaced the Pasco-Kennewick Bridge, an earlier span built in 1922 and demolished in 1995. The bridge is one of three bridge structures in the Tri-Cities area, the Blue Bridge (another Pasco/Kennewick bridge) and the Interstate 182 Bridge, that connect Pasco with Richland, are the others.

The bridge is the first in the United States to use a 'cable-stayed' design^[3] and is constructed almost entirely of prestressed concrete. The bridge towers were constructed first, with the bridge deck, which was cast in individual segments, raised up and secured to each other.

The bridge was named after Ed Hendler, a Pasco, Washington insurance salesman who headed up the committee responsible for obtaining the funding for construction of the bridge. Hendler died in August of 2001.

Night lighting of the Cable Bridge

A controversial feature of the bridge was added in 1998, when lights were added to illuminate the bridge at night. Many thought this was unnecessary and a waste of both electricity and money.^{[citation needed]} During a power crisis in 2000, the lights were turned off, but they were turned on for one night to honor Hendler's passing. Now the lights are turned on at night, and turned off at 2am.

In March of 2007, the old guard rail system on the bridge, which consisted of steel cables, was replaced with a more rigid system, consisting of steel rails bolted to the original system's mounts on the bridge deck.

[edit] The bridge as a status symbol

The Cable Bridge, from the time of its opening, has proved to be a popular landmark in the Tri-City area, so much so it has become an unofficial symbol of the area.^[4] Every winter, an event known as the Cable Bridge Run, a 10-kilometer foot race, starts at the Kennewick end of the bridge.

At the foot of the Kennewick end is the Tri-Cities Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which has engraved on it the names of the area's dead. The remaining pier of the old Pasco-Kennewick bridge, which was replaced by the Cable Bridge, now serves as a scenic lookout, from which one can view the more recent bridge.