Galloping Gertie and Other Famous Washington Bridges


We feel like we own a part of the Hood Canal Bridge. We lived in Bremerton, Washington while my husband went to school at the University of Washington in Seattle. He rode the Bremerton ferry to school every day. We took the Hood Canal Bridge to visit our parents on the week-ends and paid tolls for many years. Tolls are no longer required.

If you want to read more about the bridge the Washington State Department of Transportation's (DOT) History Page gives the lowdown on construction of the second pontoon floating bridge built in Washington State, it's crash into the saltwater tidal basin in 120-mile-per-hour winds February 13, 1979, and how it has been rebuilt.

I still cringe when I travel over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the Hood Canal Bridge to this day. Human nature. I have a weakness for heights and water. I like to keep my feet on the ground, though our state ferries (another story for later) don't seem to have that effect on me.

A few other noteworthy bridges in the State are the Astoria-Megler Bridge across the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon: it's the longest (4.1 miles) continuous-steel-span truss bridge in the world, and the Seattle University Bridge built in 1933. Its fame was the use of steel mesh deck grating that reduced the weight of the small drawbridge and was designed to last longer than wood.

The longest single concrete arch bridge in North America is the Fred Redmon Memorial Bridge on Interstate 82 near Yakima. The Ed Hendler Bridge which also crosses the Columbia River is the second-longest cable-stayed bridge in the world.

And finally, though I'm sure I missed some, is the Grays River Covered Bridge on Highway 4 in Grays Harbor County - it's the state's only existing covered bridge and is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

That's a lot of bridges to cover a lot of water in our great state. Seattle has 167 bridges if you want to count. Hope you get to visit some of them someday.

Copyright 2000, Jerri Brooker

The copyright of the article Galloping Gertie and Other Famous Washington Bridges in Washington State is owned by Jerri Brooker. Permission to republish Galloping Gertie and Other Famous Washington Bridges in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic