List of bridges in Seattle
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The city of Seattle, Washington, United States, has multiple bridges that are significant due to their function, historical status, or engineering. Bridges are needed to cross the city's waterways and hilly topography.[1] Twelve bridges have been granted historical status by the city, federal government, or both. Seattle also has some of the only permanent floating pontoon bridges in the world.[2]
Original crossings over Seattle's mudflats were typically supported by timber piles. Lake Washington and Puget Sound are to the east and west of the city, respectively. They connect via a series of canals and Lake Union that are collectively known as the Lake Washington Ship Canal.[3] The four double-leaf bascule bridges crossing the Ship Canal are the oldest still used in the city, having opened between 1917 and 1930. The easternmost—the Montlake and University bridges—connect neighborhoods south of the canal to the University District. The Fremont Bridge crosses the center of the canal and is one of the most often raised drawbridges in the world due to its clearance over the water of only 30 feet (9.1 m).[4] The westernmost crossing of the ship canal is the Ballard Bridge.[5]
Floating bridges carry Interstate 90 and State Route 520 across Lake Washington to the Eastside suburbs.[6] The SR 520 Albert D. Rosellini Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which opened in 2016 as the replacement for another floating bridge at the same site,[7][8] is the longest floating bridge in the world.[9][10] The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge had previously been replaced after the original span sunk in 1990 when water filled an open maintenance hatch during refurbishing. Age and the 2001 Nisqually earthquake have damaged the several other spans. The risk of future earthquakes has increased the need to replace already deteriorated bridges in the city, such as the Alaskan Way Viaduct (removal began in January 2019) and the Magnolia Bridge.[11][12]
West Seattle is on a peninsula separated from downtown by the Duwamish River. The West Seattle Bridge is the primary roadway crossing the river.[13] The neighborhood's Spokane Street Bridge is the world's first and only hydraulically operated concrete double-leaf swing bridge.[14]
List of bridges
| Key: Year opened |
|---|
| *: Listed in the National Register of Historic Places[15] |
| †: Listed as a city landmark[16] |
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_from_east_end_after_opening,_April_2016.jpg)
Demolished or defunct bridges
| Name (Alternative names in parentheses) |
Image | Year opened | Year closed | Type | Length | Spanned | Carried | Replacement | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaskan Way Viaduct |  | 1953[41] | 2019[41] | Viaduct | 11,088 ft (3,380 m)[42] | Alaskan Way | State Route 99 | SR 99 Tunnel[41] | 47.6040°N 122.3382°W |
| Fairview Avenue North Bridge | 1948 (west) 1963 (east)[43] | 2019[44] | Timber-pile bridge[45] | mudflats in Lake Union[44] | Fairview Avenue N[45] | Fairview Avenue N[45] | 47.6312°N 122.3278°W | ||
| Fremont Bridge (c. 1891) | 1890[46] | 1911[47] | Trestle[46] | Fremont Cut[46] | Road connecting Fremont Avenue N and 4th Avenue N | Fremont Bridge (1911)[46] | 47.6475°N 122.3497°W | ||
| Fremont Bridge (1911) | 1911[46] | 1914[47] | Trestle | Fremont Cut[46] | Road connecting Fremont Avenue N and 4th Avenue N | Fremont Bridge[46] | 47.6475°N 122.3497°W | ||
| Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge—Evergreen Point (Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, 520 Bridge) |  | 1963[22] | 2016[48] | Floating pontoon | 7,578 ft (2,310 m)[22] | Lake Washington | State Route 520 | Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (2016)[48] | 47.6405°N 122.2609°W |
| Grant Street Bridge |  | 1886[49] | c. 1910 | Timber-pile bridge | 2,640 ft (805 m) or 5,280 ft (1,609 m)[50][51] | Duwamish River and Elliott Bay mudflats[52] | Primary thoroughfare from S Jackson Street to South Seattle[49] | Seattle Boulevard (later Airport Way S)[49] | |
| Grant Street Electric Railway Bridge | .jpeg) | before 1891 | ? | Wooden truss bridge | Duwamish River | Grant Street Electric Railway | South Park Bridge | 47.3146°N 122.1851°W | |
| Latona Bridge | .jpg) | 1891[e] | 1919 | Primarily cantilevered timber[53] | 100 ft (30 m)[53] | Narrow point of north west Lake Union[53] | Seattle Electric Company (original) General traffic (after completion of second span)[53] | University Bridge[53] | 47.6525°N 122.3421°W |
| Post Avenue Bridge[54] | 1890[55] | 2017[f] | Timber-pile bridge[55] | 240 ft (73 m)[54] | Elliott Bay waterfront[55] | Post Avenue | Post Avenue | 47.6032°N 122.3362°W | |
| South Park Bridge |  | 1931 | 2010 | Bascule | 1,285 ft (392 m) | Duwamish River | 14th/16th Avenue S | New South Park Bridge | 47.5293°N 122.314°W |
| Stone Way Bridge | _(cropped).jpeg) | 1911 | 1918 | Trestle | 2,700 ft (823 m) | Lake Union | Stone Way | Fremont Bridge | 47.6463°N 122.3437°W |
| West Wheeler Street Bridge | .gif) | before 1914 | 1924 | Trestle | mudflats in Interbay | W Wheeler Street, and Lawton Way (now W Armory Way) on a diagonal | Magnolia Bridge | 47.6408°N 122.3813°W | |
| West Seattle Bridge[56] c. 1900 | c. 1900 | c. 1911 | "swinging gate" | Duwamish River | (unnamed, future route of Spokane Street); water main | West Seattle Bridge c. 1911 | |||
| West Seattle Bridge[56] c. 1911 (Spokane Street Bridge)[57][58] | .jpeg) | c. 1911[57] | c. 1918[58] | Swing bridge | Duwamish West Waterway | Spokane Street; water main | West Seattle Bridge c. 1918 | ||
| West Seattle Bridge c. 1918[56] (Spokane Street Bridge)[58] | .jpeg) | c. 1918[58] | 1924 | Swing bridge | Duwamish West Waterway | Spokane Street | West Seattle Bridge (1924) | ||
| West Spokane Street Bridge (1924) (Bridge No. 1; North Bridge; westbound traffic after 1930) [56] | .jpg) | 1924 | 1978 | Bascule | Duwamish West Waterway | Spokane Street | West Seattle Bridge (1984) and Spokane Street Bridge | ||
| West Spokane Street Bridge (1930) (Bridge No. 2; South Bridge; eastbound traffic)[59] | 1930 | 1989 | Bascule | Duwamish West Waterway | Spokane Street | West Seattle Bridge (1984) and Spokane Street Bridge |
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bridges in Seattle.
- List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state)
- List of Seattle landmarks
- South Park Bridge, just outside the city limits
- East Channel Bridge, connects the Interstate 90 bridges with the Eastside suburbs via Mercer Island
- Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a pair of suspension bridges in nearby Tacoma
- Wilburton Trestle, a historic wooden railway trestle in nearby Bellevue
Notes
- A parallel span was built in 1996; the approaches to the original span were partially demolished and the structure was retrofitted between 1996 and 1998.[21]
- The city rebuilt the approaches at each end of the bridge between 2006 and 2007.[24]
- All but the approaches replace the original bridge, which opened in 1940 and sank in 1990.[22]
- Remodeled and dedicated in 1933.[19]
- Carried the first streetcar line across Lake Union, but converted to pedestrian, horse, and vehicle traffic when a parallel span was built for streetcars in 1901.[53]
- Paved with creosoted wood blocks in 1911 before being completely asphalted over in 1945.[55]
References
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