Deception Pass Bridge is the common name for two, two-lane bridges on

Washington State Route 20 State Route 20 (SR 20), also known as the North Cascades Highway, is a state highway that traverses the U.S. state of Washington. It is the state's longest highway, traveling across the northern areas of Washington, from U.S. Route ...

connecting

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington State. (The other large island is Camano Island, ...

in Island County, to

Fidalgo Island Fidalgo Island is an island in Skagit County, Washington, located about north of Seattle. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the Swinomish Channel, and from Whidbey Island to the south by Deception Pass. The island is named ...

Skagit County Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit ...

, in the U.S. state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It was a Washington State Highways project, and included project elements built by young workers from the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part o ...

. Completion of the bridge was a factor in the decision to build

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington. The main portion of the base, Ault Field, is about ...

and helped Oak Harbor flourish. The bridge is a commonly photographed landmark of the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected m ...

region.

History

In the spring of 1792,

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey FRS (1757 – 9 October 1833) was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–95, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and chart ...

, master of HMS ''Discovery'' and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards (hence the name "Deception"), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

with the

Saratoga Passage Saratoga Passage lies in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Camano Island. Saratoga Passage extends about 18 miles in a northwesterly direction from its entrance between Sandy Point on the Whidbey Island side and Camano Head on the other. ...

, which separates the mainland from what they believed was a peninsula (actually Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island). Thomas Coupe, a sea captain and founder of Coupeville, was the only man ever to sail a full-rigged ship through the strait discovered by Whidbey. In the early years of the 20th century, travelers of the horse-and-buggy era used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. To call the ferry, they banged a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait. The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, is actually two spans, one over

Canoe Pass A canoe is a lightweight narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British Englis ...

to the north, and another over

Deception Pass Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bridges known collecti ...

to the south. Pass Island lies between the two bridges. Construction began in August 1934, and the completed bridge was dedicated at noon on July 31, 1935. The Wallace Bridge and Structural Co. of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

provided 460 tons of steel for the Canoe Pass arch and 1130 tons for the Deception Pass span. The cost of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

-era construction was $482,000, made possible through the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Reco ...

and county funds. In 1982, the bridge was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

ahead of a repainting project that cost more than the original construction cost. A second repainting was completed in 1997. named "Evergreen Green", using lead-free paint;{{ the project also includes replacement of steel pieces that have signs of corrosion.{{cite news , last=Gilbert , first=Emily , date=May 3, 2019 , title=Deception Pass Bridge repair project starts Monday , url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/deception-pass-and-canoe-bridges/281-e370c677-1bb1-4ae2-a3e2-4ed4e8acc40c , publisher= KING 5 News , access-date=May 7, 2020

Bridge Facts

* Height from water to roadway: about {{Convert, 180, ft, m, depending on the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

* Roadway: two {{Convert, 11, ft, m, adj=on lanes, one in each direction * Sidewalks: {{Convert, 3, ft, m, adj=mid, -wide sidewalk on each side * Width of bridge deck: {{Convert, 28, ft, m * Total length: {{Convert, 1487, ft, m (more than a quarter mile) * Canoe Pass: one {{Convert, 350, ft, m, adj=on arch and three concrete T-beam approach spans * Deception Pass: two {{Convert, 175, ft, m, adj=on

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

spans, one {{Convert, 200, ft, m, adj=on suspended span, and four concrete T-beam approach spans * Vehicle crossings: 20,000 per day on average * Maximum speed of current in Deception Pass at flood/ebb tide: 9 kts * Maximum speed of current in Canoe Pass at flood/ebb tide: 10 kts * 12 total suicides by jumping from the bridge in 2009 and 15 in 2010 {{Gallery , width=200 , File:Deception Pass bridge.jpg , A view of the east side of the bridge , File:Deceptionpass bridge3.jpg , Looking south towards Canoe pass (foreground) and Deception pass , File:Deception Pass Bridge view.jpg , Looking west towards

Deception Pass strait Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bridges known collecti ...

from the top of the bridge

References

{{Reflist

External links

*{{Commons-inline, Deception Pass Bridge
Deception Pass Park Foundation webpage
*{{Structurae, id=20018627, title=Deception Pass Bridge *{{HAER , survey=WA-103 , id=wa0458 , title=Deception Pass Bridge, Spanning Deception Pass at State Route 20, Anacortes, Skagit County, WA , photos=7 , color=3 , data=14 , cap=1
Maritime Heritage Network
{{Registered Historic Places {{Authority control Bridges completed in 1935 Transportation buildings and structures in Island County, Washington Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Skagit County, Washington Civilian Conservation Corps in Washington (state) Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Island County, Washington National Register of Historic Places in Skagit County, Washington Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States

History

Bridge Facts

See also

References

External links