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. 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.

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. 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 . The westernmost crossing of the ship canal is the Ballard Bridge.

Floating bridges carry Interstate 90 and State Route 520 across Lake Washington to the Eastside suburbs. 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, is the longest floating bridge in the world. 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 was completed in November of the same year) and the Magnolia Bridge.

West Seattle is on a peninsula separated from downtown by the Duwamish River. The West Seattle Bridge is the primary roadway crossing the river. The neighborhood's Spokane Street Bridge is the world's first and only hydraulically operated concrete double-leaf swing bridge.

List of bridges Key: Year opened*: Listed in the National Register of Historic Places†: Listed as a city landmark Name(Alternative names in parentheses) Image Year opened Type Length Spans Carries Coordinates Arboretum Sewer Trestle 1913*†Arch ft (55 m) Lake Washington Boulevard E Sewer and a footpath Ballard Bridge(15th Avenue Bridge) 1917* Bascule  ft (870 m) Salmon Bay 15th Avenue W/15th Avenue NW Cowen Park Bridge 1936*† Arch  ft (109 m) A ravine in Cowen Park 15th Avenue NE First Avenue South Bridge 1956 Bascule  ft (91 m) Duwamish River State Route 99 Fremont Bridge(Fremont Avenue Bridge) 1917*† Bascule  ft (74 m) Fremont Cut Road connecting Fremont Avenue N and 4th Avenue N George Washington Memorial Bridge(Aurora Bridge) 1932*† Cantilever and truss ft (898 m) Lake Union Aurora Avenue N (State Route 99) Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge(Third Lake Washington Bridge) 1989 Floating pontoon  ft (1,771 m) Lake Washington Interstate 90, Link 2 Line Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge(West Seattle Bridge) 1984 Cantilever  ft (705 m) Duwamish River Road connecting Fauntleroy Way SW and the Spokane Street Viaduct Jose Rizal Bridge(12th Avenue South Bridge) 1911* Truss arch  ft (130 m)S Dearborn Street and Interstate 90 12th Avenue S Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge 1993 Floating pontoon  ft (2,020 m) Lake Washington Interstate 90 Magnolia Bridge 1930 Truss  ft (1097 m) Filled-in tidelands of Smith Cove W Garfield Street Montlake Bridge (Eastlake Bridge) 1925*† Bascule ft (105 m) Lake Washington Ship Canal Montlake Boulevard E/Montlake Boulevard NE (State Route 513) North Queen Anne Drive Bridge 1936† Arch  ft (73 m) Wolf Creek Queen Anne Drive Salmon Bay Bridge 1914†Bascule and truss  ft (61 m) Salmon Bay BNSF Railway Ship Canal Bridge 1962 Truss  ft (1,350 m) Portage Bay Interstate 5Schmitz Park Bridge 1936*† Rigid frame  ft (53 m) A ravine in Schmitz Park SW Admiral Way Spokane Street Bridge 1991 Swing  ft (150 m) Duwamish River SW Spokane Street SR 520 Albert D. Rosellini Evergreen Point Floating Bridge(Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, 520 Bridge) 2016 Floating pontoon  ft (2,350 m) Lake Washington State Route 520 20th Avenue NE Bridge(Ravenna Park Bridge) 1913*† Arch  ft (108 m) A ravine in Ravenna Park 20th Avenue NE (pedestrian/bicycle access only) University Bridge 1919* Bascule  ft (66 m) Portage BayEastlake Avenue E/Eastlake Avenue NE South Park Bridge 2014 Bascule Duwamish River 14th/16th Avenue South John Lewis Memorial Bridge 2021 Truss 1,900 ft (579 m) Interstate 5 Pedestrian and bike traffic 8th Ave NW Bridge 1950TrussUnknown; roughly ~190 ft (58 m)8th Ave NWGeneral purpose lanes

Demolished or defunct bridges Name(Alternative names in parentheses) Image Year opened Year closed Type Length Spanned Carried Replacement Coordinates Alaskan Way Viaduct 1953 2019 Viaduct ft (3,380 m) Alaskan Way State Route 99 SR 99 Tunnel Fairview Avenue North Bridge 1948 (west) 1963 (east)2019 Timber-pile bridge mudflats in Lake Union Fairview Avenue N Fairview Avenue N Fremont Bridge (c. 1891) 18901911 Trestle Fremont Cut Road connecting Fremont Avenue N and 4th Avenue N Fremont Bridge (1911) Fremont Bridge (1911) 19111914 Trestle Fremont Cut Road connecting Fremont Avenue N and 4th Avenue N Fremont Bridge Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge—Evergreen Point(Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, 520 Bridge) 1963 2016 Floating pontoon  ft (2,310 m) Lake Washington State Route 520 Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (2016) Grant Street Bridge 1886 1910 Timber-pile bridge  ft (805 m) or  ft (1,609 m) Duwamish River and Elliott Bay mudflats Primary thoroughfare from S Jackson Street to South Seattle Seattle Boulevard (later Airport Way S) Grant Street Electric Railway Bridge before 1891 ? Wooden truss bridge Duwamish River Grant Street Electric Railway South Park Bridge Latona Bridge 1891 1919 Primarily cantilevered timber  ft (30 m) Narrow point of north west Lake Union Seattle Electric Company (original) General traffic (after completion of second span) University Bridge Post Avenue Bridge 1890 2017 Timber-pile bridge  ft (73 m) Elliott Bay waterfront Post Avenue Post Avenue South Park Bridge 1931 2010 Bascule  ft (392 m) Duwamish River 14th/16th Avenue S New South Park Bridge Stone Way Bridge 1911 1918 Trestle  ft (823 m) Lake Union Stone Way Fremont Bridge West Wheeler Street Bridge before 1914 1924 Trestle mudflats in Interbay W Wheeler Street, and Lawton Way (now W Armory Way) on a diagonal Magnolia Bridge West Seattle Bridge 1900 1900 1911 "swinging gate" Duwamish River (unnamed, future route of Spokane Street); water main West Seattle Bridge 1911 West Seattle Bridge 1911 (Spokane Street Bridge) 1911 1918 Swing bridge Duwamish West Waterway Spokane Street; water main West Seattle Bridge 1918 West Seattle Bridge 1918 (Spokane Street Bridge) 1918 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) 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) 1930 1989 Bascule Duwamish West Waterway Spokane Street West Seattle Bridge (1984) and Spokane Street Bridge

See also

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

References