Born in Peterborough, Ontario, Don Northey received a BS degree from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1956, and a BASc degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1958.

After several years of design and construction of projects in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic, he joined Harry R. Powell of Seattle – an early and influential proponent of the value of aesthetic quality in bridges – as a specialist in the design of bridges and transportation-related structures.

During his long and extensive career, Don served as Principal Structural Engineer for Gardner Engineers, TAMS, and TranSystems.  His work included responsibility for planning, design, rating, or inspection of hundreds of bridges in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona.

Career highlights include the introduction of the finite element method to bridge design in 1965 for the design of airplane bridges for the Boeing Company, which have carried "every 747 ever built" (1970 PCI Bulletin); an 800’ barge berth of 31’ diameter precast caissons, causeway bridge and port buildings on permafrost at Nome, Alaska (1985 PIANC Paper); Foster Bridge over the Duwamish River (1986 ASCE Award); Interchange Bridges and miles of retaining walls for a 2.4-mile section of 8-lane depressed urban freeway in Tempe, Arizona (1991 ACI Award); Luther Burbank Lid over I-90 on Mercer Island (1995 Federal Design Achievement Award); the Kirkwood Memorial Bridge in Grays Harbor County (1995 PCI Award); and the Meydenbauer Park Bridge (shown here) in Bellevue (Outstanding Small Bridge 2001 NCSEA Award).

A member of SEAW since 1975, Don served as SEAW Seattle Treasurer 1979-1995, State Treasurer 1985-1995, and Historian. He participated on many committees, and in 1996 established SEAW liaisons with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Puget Sound Engineering Council (PSEC). A strong participant in PSEC activities, he served as President 2000-2001. In 2005 he received the Professional Engineer of the Year Award from the Washington Society of Professional Engineers. In 2013 he became a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute.

Posted February 2012. Updated June 2013, June 2014