Clark Eldridge

Clark Eldridge (1896–1990) was one of the engineers who designed the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

In 1936, Eldridge joined the Washington State Highway Department. He designed two of the state's most colossal bridges, the Lake Washington Floating Bridge and the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge. From the outset, Eldridge considered the Tacoma Narrows Bridge "his bridge." The Washington State Highway Department had challenged him to find money to help build it, and he did. Federal officials decided that Eldridge's design was too expensive, so they required the Washington State Toll Bridge Authority to hire noted suspension bridge engineer Leon Moisseiff of New York as a consultant.

When the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapsed in 1940, Eldridge accepted some of the blame.

In late 1941 Eldridge worked for the U.S. Navy on Guam when World War II began. He was captured by the Japanese and spent the remainder of the war, three years and nine months, as a POW in a prisoner of war camp in Japan.

External links

• People of the 1940 Narrows Bridge

Persondata
Name	Eldridge, Clark
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Date of birth	1896
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Date of death	1990
Place of death