The location of the state of Washington in the United States of America
Grand Coulee Dam has long been emblematic of infrastructure in the State of Washington, and is one of two dams mentioned in the official state folk song, Roll On, Columbia, Roll On". But its scale has been eclipsed by several 21st century infrastructure projects.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to infrastructure of the U.S. state of Washington.

By era

This section lists a few of the largest infrastructure projects of each century since non-Indigenous settlement.

Mid 19th century

Initial settlement of the state

Late 19th century

Early industrialization, Age of Rail

20th century

Rapid industrialization during World Wars, suburbanization of Seattle area

21st century

By topic

General

Communication and computing

Energy

High Voltage DC (HVDC)

Hydro

Washington is a major hydroelectric producer in the United States and the world. The Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River was the world's largest when built, and remains the largest power station in the United States by capacity.

Natural gas

Nuclear

Commercial power production
Research reactors (civilian)

Other

Environmental and scientific

Weather and climate

  • AgriMet Pacific Northwest Region (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)[1]
  • AgWeatherNet (Washington State University), crop freezes and hailstorms
  • Camano Island Doppler radar
  • Langley Hill Doppler radar
  • RAWS network (US Forest Service), over 100 sensors in Washington,[2] for assessing wildfire risk and forest health

Ocean

Natural hazards

Space and cosmology

LIGO gravity wave observatory at Hanford, with legs two and a half miles long, is the largest project ever funded by the National Science Foundation. It is one of a pair of instruments used by the scientists awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Military complexes

Army, Navy, Air Force, Joint

Former

For earlier 19th century forts, see List of forts#Washington

Civilianized airfields

For a full list of Army airfields see Washington World War II Army Airfields. The Navy also civilianized several fields.

Department of Energy

US Coast Guard

Transportation

Air

Rail

Road

Ports and canals

Canals (active)

Constructed canals only[lower-alpha 2]

Canals (abandoned)
Ports

Water management

Flood control

Volcanic

Volcano-related infrastructure around Mount St. Helens related to its 1980 eruption and future eruptions

Flumes and siphons

Irrigation

Center pivot irrigation in the Columbia Basin makes mile-wide circles around Potholes Reservoir, visible from space.

Municipal water supply

Wastewater

By type

Bridges

Many bridges are visible in this photograph of the northern Puget Sound area of Washington, including the four floating bridges listed

Floating bridges

Washington has more floating bridges than any other state,[9] and the world's three longest ones, including:

Historically notable bridges and incidents

Dams

Pipelines

Roads

Brick paved section of Yellowstone Trail in Redmond

Historically notable roads include

  • Category:Historic trails and roads in Washington (state)
  • Oregon Trail wagon trail to Whitman Mission, Walla Walla (1843)
  • Naches Trail, first wagon road to cross the Cascades (1853)
  • Mullan Road, first improved road (cleared 25 feet (7.6 m) wide) to inland Pacific Northwest (1859–1860)
  • Maryhill Loops Road, first asphalt paved road in Washington (1911)
  • Yellowstone Trail, first transcontinental automobile highway to Seattle (1912)

Tunnels

Highways

Railroads

Passenger train service

Mass transit

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ As of March 2018, there were five DART buoys off of US West Coast, one of which is approximately 400 km west of Cape Flattery.[3]
  2. ↑ Washington has several natural canals including 65-mile (105 km) long Hood Canal

References

  1. ↑ "Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region Programs & Activities | Bureau of Reclamation".
  2. ↑ Station Data Inventory Listings - RAWS Network: Washington
  3. ↑ DART buoy map and database, NOAA, retrieved 2018-03-05
  4. ↑ Duane Colt Denfeld (August 21, 2012), "World War II: Civilian Airports Adapted for Military Use", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink
  5. ↑ NRHP continuation sheet for Atlas E Missile Site 9, Rearden, Washington, listed 7/31/2009
  6. ↑ Braesch, LT Connie (2009-06-30). "Interagency Coordination and the Sector Command Center-Joint". Compass. US Coast Guard. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
  7. ↑ "Bureau of Reclamation".
  8. ↑ "Bureau of Reclamation".
  9. ↑ Chen, W.F.; Duan, L. (2013), Handbook of International Bridge Engineering, Taylor & Francis, p. 107, ISBN 978-1-4398-1029-3, table 2.8: Major floating bridges in the United States
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