Lake Washington

The Lake Washington is the second largest natural lake in the U.S. state of Washington to the Lake Chelan and the largest lake in King County. It is located between Seattle to the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton in the south and Kenmore in the north. In the lake the island Mercer Iceland lies on the eponymous city. In the lake open two rivers, the Sammamish River on the north and the Cedar River at the southern end. In addition, several smaller streams still flow into Lake Washington. The lake is situated at a height of 5 m and is about 20 kilometers long. The average depth of the lake formed by a glacier is 30 meters and the deepest point is 65 meters below the water surface.

Canals and Bridges

Before the Lake Washington Ship Canal was built in 1916, was the outflow of Lake Washington the Black River, which in turn led to the Duwamish River, Elliott Bay. With the opening of the channel, the water level of the lake fell by almost 3 m. The channel that connected the lake with Puget Sound, was henceforth the only outlet of the lake, so that the Black River dried up.

Four bridges cross Lake Washington:

• Evergreen Point Floating Bridge
• Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge ( Interstate 90)
• Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge ( Interstate 90)
• East Channel Bridge

In the first three bridges are pontoon bridges, the two -kilometer Evergreen Point Floating Bridge is the longest in the world. The floating bridges were built because of the lake with a depth of 30 meters and a further 30 meters thick muddy ground would have made the placement of piers for suspension bridges very costly.