The Third Lake Washington Bridge, officially the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, is one of the Interstate 90 floating bridges. It is the fifth-longest floating bridge in the world, at 5,811 feet (1772 m). It carries the westbound and reversible lanes of Interstate 90 across Lake Washington between Mercer Island, Washington, and Seattle, Washington.HistoryThe bridge was built in 1989 and is named for Homer More Hadley, who designed the bridge's companion span, the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge. Hadley also designed the McMillin Bridge in Pierce County.When the bridge was built, parallel to the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge, two reversible high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes were set up to accommodate the traffic flow between Seattle and the suburban Eastside (westbound in the morning, eastbound in the evenings).Currently, Sound Transit and the Washington State Department of Transportation are relocating HOV lanes from the reversible express lanes to the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 90. This move is necessary to accommodate the East Link light-rail line (under construction) from downtown Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond, Washington. East Link, scheduled for full completion in 2020, will be the first time that a light-rail line will operate on a floating bridge.
