When the "big one" hits the pacific NW, bridge design is not going to save significant areas from complete destruction.

I am talking about the Cascadian Subduction Zone letting go which happens every 200 to 1200 years (41 times in the last 10000 years). The last time this happened, in 1700, there was a 9.0 earthquake, a 100 foot tsunami and the coastline dropped several feet.

There is about a ~10% chance this will happen again in the next 50 years. If it does, large areas will be completely unprepared and a very large number of people will die.