Spokane Street Bridge | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 47°34′17″N122°21′12″W / 47.5714°N 122.3533°W |
Carries | Spokane Street |
Crosses | Duwamish River |
Locale | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Characteristics | |
Design | Concrete swing bridge |
Longest span | 480 feet (150 m) |
History | |
Opened | 1991 |
Location | |
The Spokane Street Bridge, also known as the West Seattle Low-Level Bridge, is a concrete double-leaf swing bridge in Seattle, Washington. It carries Southwest Spokane Street over the Duwamish River, connecting Harbor Island to West Seattle. It has two separate end-to-end swing-span sections, each 480 feet (150 m) long. Its construction was finished in 1991, replacing an earlier bridge destroyed by a collision. It is named after Spokane Street, which itself is named after Spokane, Washington, which is named after the Spokane people.
Each 7,500-short-ton (6,800 t) leaf of the bridge floats on a 100-inch (2.5 m) steel barrel in hydraulic oil, situated in center piers at each side of the river. As the bridge intersects the river at an oblique angle, both leaves rotate only 45 degrees (one-eighth turn) to clear the shipping channel instead of the 90-degree turn of most swing spans. [1] It is claimed [2] to be the only bridge of its type in the world and it has received several awards for its innovation, including the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1992. [3] In a typical year, it opens approximately 1,500 times for river traffic. [4]
The bridge was featured in a 2007 episode of Really Big Things shown on the Discovery Channel.
The prior bridge at this location was the West Spokane Street Bridge, which opened in 1924 (augmented by a second bridge in 1930). In 1968 and 1970, a series of bond propositions ("Forward Thrust") were offered to replace the prior bridges, but did not receive the required approval. A 1978 freighter collision with the 1924 bridge (and subsequent closure) exacerbated the need to replace the older bridges, and federal funding was secured. The West Seattle Bridge was opened in 1984 to carry most of the traffic previously handled by the old West Spokane Street Bridge, with the lower Spokane Street Bridge opening in 1991 to serve local traffic to Harbor Island.[ citation needed ]
The high-rise bridge was closed in March 2020 due to rapid growth of cracks on its underside, leaving the Spokane Street Bridge as the main route to West Seattle. The lower bridge was restricted to transit, freight, emergency vehicles, and longshore workers, with limited patrols by police. Beginning in late June, general traffic was allowed to use the Spokane Street Bridge from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. [5] Automatic ticketing cameras were installed in January 2021 and issued 5,300 tickets in the first weeks of February. [6] The high-rise bridge was reopened to traffic on September 17, 2022, and restrictions on the Spokane Street Bridge ended at the same time. [7]
SDOT began repairs to the Spokane Street Bridge in mid-2022 to reinforce its swing span with epoxy and carbon fiber, similar to the work carried out on the high-rise bridge. Additional upgrades to the hydraulic systems, computers, and communications lines are planned to begin in 2023. [8] The bridge was closed on December 23, 2022, after it failed to close properly during a major ice storm. Crews then discovered more severe damage to the position sensor and hydraulic seal that control the bridge's movement, prompting a longer closure. [9] It reopened on January 13, 2023, following three weeks of repairs. A temporary bicycle lane was installed in SODO to mitigate the bridge's closure. [4]
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right. Small swing bridges as found over canals may be pivoted only at one end, opening as would a gate, but require substantial underground structure to support the pivot.
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The West Seattle Bridge, officially the Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge, is a cantilevered segmental bridge that serves as the primary connection between West Seattle and important highways such as State Route 99, the Spokane Street Viaduct, and Interstate 5. It was built between 1981 and 1984 after the previous bascule bridge was deemed inoperable as a result of being struck by the freighter Antonio Chavez in 1978.
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At 2:38 a.m. on June 11, 1978, the freighter Antonio Chavez rammed the West Spokane Street Bridge, thereby closing it to automobile traffic for the next six years. The pilot and master were both found negligent in causing the collision. The collision led to the opening of the current West Seattle Bridge in 1984. The incident occurred in west fork of the Duwamish Waterway, as the Chavez hit the West Spokane Street Bridge which had been raised to allow the ship to pass through. This blocked eastbound traffic to West Seattle, until the westbound span was temporarily adapted to handle two-way traffic.
The West Spokane Street Bridge was a pair of bascule bridges that crossed the west fork of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, United States. The bridges connected the SoDo and West Seattle neighborhoods over the river. The original bridge opened to traffic in 1924; a second bridge carrying eastbound traffic was opened in 1930, with the 1924 bridge reconfigured to carry westbound traffic.
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