West Seattle Bridge

Washington State Route 526

SR-526
Get started mukilteo
End Everett
Length 4 mi
Length 7 km
Route
Airport Road

Seaway Boulevard

Evergreen Way

→ Seattle / Everett

According to transporthint, State Route 526 or SR-526 is a short state route and freeway in the U.S. state of Washington. The road provides a short link between Boeing’s Mukilteo factories and Interstate 5 just south of Everett. State Route 526 is 7 kilometers long and is called the Boeing Freeway..

Travel directions

State Route 526.

State Route 526 begins at the Boeing Everett Factory, a gigantic factory complex. The road almost immediately has the character of a motorway and has 2×2 lanes. The highway then passes through the city of Everett and ends at a complex interchange with Interstate 5.

History

The interchange with I-5 was opened in February 1965. The highway itself was built in the 1980s. Originally, only the connection from SR-526 to I-5 to Seattle was grade separated and vice versa. The interchange was upgraded in the 1990s at Boeing’s expense with connections to and from the north.

Traffic intensities

Up to 74,000 vehicles use the 7-kilometer-long highway every day.

Washington State Route 599

SR-599
Get started tukwila
End tukwila
Length 2 mi
Length 3 km
Route
→ Olympia

133rd Street

Tukwila International Boulevard

State Route 599 or SR-599 is a short state route and freeway in the U.S. state of Washington. The route is located entirely in the suburb of Tukwila, a suburb of Seattle and is 3 kilometers long.

Travel directions

State Route 599 connects Interstate 5 to State Route 99, both north-south highways in the metropolitan area. The highway has 2×2 lanes.

History

The highway opened in June 1968, although it didn’t become a state route until 1971. The road was briefly numbered as US 99.

Traffic intensities

About 48,000 vehicles use this route every day.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Spans Tacoma Narrows
Lanes 2×3
Total length 1,646 meters
Main span 853 meters
Bridge deck height 57 meters
Opening 14-10-1950 / 15-07-2007
Traffic intensity 78,000 mvt/day
Location Map

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a double suspension bridge in the United States, located at Tacoma, Washington.

Characteristics

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge are two parallel suspension bridges spanning the Tacoma Narrows, a strait between two parts of the Puget Sound in the Seattle area. The bridge is located near the city of Tacoma and has a total length of 1,646 meters. The main span is 853 meters and the bridge deck is 57 meters above the water. Washington State Route 16, a 2×3 lane freeway, crosses the bridge. The bridge is a toll road.

History

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge shortly after collapsing in 1940.

Already at the end of the 19th century there were plans to build a bridge at Tacoma. These plans became more concrete during the 1920s and construction began in 1937 and was completed in 1940. On July 1, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to traffic. The bridge had not been tested in a wind tunnel and the bridge deck danced dangerously during high winds. After 4 months, the bridge deck collapsed during a storm on November 7, 1940. The collapse is still regarded as one of the greatest mistakes in the history of modern civil engineering.

World War II delayed plans to build a new bridge quickly. In the late 1940s, the construction of a replacement bridge began, which was opened to traffic on October 14, 1950. The new bridge was 12 meters longer than the 1940 bridge. When it opened, it was the third longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge was a toll road until 1965.

In the 1990s, the traffic increased strongly due to suburbanization and the connection became congested. After that, a second suspension bridge was built between 2002 and 2007 to the west of the existing bridge. It opened to traffic on 15 July 2007. From that moment on, tolls had to be paid again on the bridge.

Traffic intensities

In 2011, 78,000 vehicles drove daily over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which is not overloaded.

Toll

The new bridge from 2007 is a toll road, so toll is only levied towards Tacoma and in 2013 is $5 in cash and $4 with a transponder.

West Seattle Bridge

West Seattle Bridge
Spans Seattle
Lanes 2×3
Total length 795 meters
Main span ~170 meters
Bridge deck height 42.6 meters
Opening 07-1984
Traffic intensity 100,000 mvt/day
Location Map

According to travelationary, the West Seattle Bridge is a box girder bridge in the United States, located in the city of Seattle.

Characteristics

The West Seattle Bridge is the main bridge of the Spokane Street Viaduct, a local unnumbered freeway between West Seattle, State Route 99 and Interstate 5. The total bridge connection is approximately 4 kilometers long, the main bridge is the 795 meter long West Seattle Bridge over the Seattle harbor area. The main span is approximately 170 meters. The bridge connection has 2×3 lanes and is toll-free.

History

The closed West Seattle Bridge in April 2020.

The original Spokane Street Viaduct was one of Seattle’s first freeways, opening to traffic in 1940. This connection had a bascule bridge over the Duwamish Waterway at the time. This bascule bridge was hit in 1978 and was beyond repair. That is why the higher West Seattle Bridge was built between 1981 and 1984 as a permanent bridge connection.

The original Spokane Street Viaduct was a 2×2 lane narrow viaduct, with narrow lanes and no emergency lanes. This was a bottleneck and unsafe road section. Between 2009 and 2013, this viaduct was replaced by a wider viaduct with 2×3 lanes.

The bridge was closed on March 23, 2020 after cracks were discovered in the bridge, which may have resulted from the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake. It quickly became clear that this would mean a lengthy closure, lasting at least until the end of 2021. Subsequently, there was talk of a possible complete demolition and replacement of the bridge. Ultimately, the bridge was renovated and strengthened and reopened to traffic on September 18, 2022.

Traffic intensities

100,000 vehicles use the bridge every day, a relatively high intensity given the location and function of the road that crosses it.

West Seattle Bridge