Our pontoons have their red carpet moment en route to Lake Washington

We celebrated the Seattle arrival of the final floating bridge pontoons by inviting you to submit your best pontoon photos to a #520Pontoon photo contest on Twitter. You delivered! We were impressed by the dozens of pontoon photos that flowed in, some taken in Seattle, some taken along their seagoing voyage from Aberdeen up to the Puget Sound.   Jon Marmor, editor of the University of Washington's Columns magazine, was our guest judge. He picked the five winners, who we announced on Twitter on April 15 (see our tweet at right). You can see the other winning entries on our Flickr page.   Thank you to everyone who submitted a photo, visited the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks to watch the final float-in, or waved to a pontoon since the very first one arrived in 2012. Come 2016, these massive concrete boxes will keep you high and dry as you drive, run or bike across the new, world's longest floating bridge.

The floating bridge gets hinged

Ever wonder how the floating bridge connects to land while adjusting to the rise and fall of Lake Washington? The answer is with a giant hinge, which crews installed this week on the east end of the bridge.

The side-by-side photos below, taken from our fixed-point construction camera, are from April 22 and April 23. At left you can see a crane barge lifting three of the eight 190-foot-long steel girders toward the gap between the stationary high-rise highway and the new floating bridge.

At right you can see the girders in place. This transition span is hinged to the fixed highway so the floating bridge can rise and fall with the lake.

Know what to expect for Opening Day of boating season

Boating season's Opening Day is May 2 this year. For those of you participating as boaters or spectators in the parade and crew races, please be aware of the construction areas around Union Bay. While construction activities are not scheduled to take place on the lake on May 2, there will be construction equipment and structures on the lake. If you plan to be out in a boat during Opening Day festivities, please stay at least 500 feet away from all construction equipment and structures.

Please also be aware that the East Miller Street and the former Museum of History and Industry parking lots are closed to the public. For a map of construction areas to avoid while you are out on the lake, visit our website.