The Ballard Bridge is Falling Down....

by Liz

Oddly after last weeks post that admitted to my lack of riding on the bus, I have to fess up that today I drove in too.  The good news is that it was a planned drive in due to an after work softball game.  No frets, I  did ride the bus a few times after my post last week.  It was because of this drive in that I experience something new and this is what I’ll share with you this week. 

It was not quite a typical Tuesday for me, I headed in late to work as I’m trying to shake a silly cold that has been hanging around for the last week.  I truly think it is on it’s way out, so I’ll rejoice in that.   As I drove the same path that the bus takes me daily from Ballard to Lower Queen Ann, I was stopped at the Ballard Bridge.   What’s new about that?  Sure, I’ve been stuck waiting for that draw bridge dozens of times over the past four years living in Ballard.  The new thing was I was first in line.  I’m such a dork, but I thought that was pretty cool.  I even took a picture to commemorate  the event. 

This got my wondering juices flowing.  So, on my break I looked up some interesting things about Seattle.  If you’ve never been to Seattle take a look at a Map and you’ll see that the city is surrounded by water.  So much that the SDOT operates and maintains over 149 bridges in Seattle.  Four of these bridges are moveable ones.  The Ballard Bridge, Fremont Bridge and University Bridge were built almost 100 years ago.  These three connect Lake Washington through the Ship Canal to the Puget Sound. 

Some interesting facts for those of you that enjoy those things.  The University Bridge was originally built in 1919 and remodeled in 1933. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the bridge on April 7, 1933. On that opening day, 37,794 automobiles crossed the bridge.  The Fremont Bridge sits just 30 feet above the water, and rises for marine traffic on average of about 35 times a day, making it as one of the busiest bascule bridges in the world.  Finally, the Ballard Bridges built in 1917 is 2,854 feet long. 

Thanks to the Seattle.gov website for these fun tidbits of facts about Seattle bridges.