Spokane Street Bridge

Not to be confused with West Spokane Street Bridge.

Spokane Street Bridge
One of the bridge's swing-span sections turned
Coordinates47°34′17″N 122°21′12″W / 47.5714°N 122.3533°W / 47.5714; -122.3533
CarriesSpokane Street
CrossesDuwamish River
LocaleSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Characteristics
DesignConcrete swing bridge
Longest span480 feet (150 m)
History
Opened1991
Location
Map

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 Spokane Street Bridge is the lower of the two bridges visible in this picture. Behind it is the higher West Seattle Bridge.
  1. ^ "West Seattle Connection: World's Only Hydraulically Operated Double-Leaf Concrete Swing Bridge" (PDF). City of Seattle Engineering Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 8, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  2. ^ "Bridges and Roadway Structures" Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  3. ^ "ASCE Honors and Awards: Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement, 1992 [listed as West Seattle Low Level Bridge]". American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Times-Reopen23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).