Lyons Ferry Bridge
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The Snake River Bridge (also known as the Lyons Ferry Bridge), is located on State Route 261 at the confluence of the
Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
and
Palouse River The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake River in Washington and Idaho, in the northwest United States. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 south ...
s, near Starbuck, Washington, USA. The bridge is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1982 and is located next to Lyons Ferry Park.


Original construction

It was originally constructed in 1927 and known as the Vantage Ferry Bridge, where it carried the North Central Highway over the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
in Vantage, replacing a four-car
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
. By 1923, the ferry was transporting 50,000 people across the river annually, and it was clear that a bridge was needed to replace it. Originally planned to be a privately constructed
toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...
, it was strongly opposed by Washington Governor Louis F. Hart because it would be a toll bridge on a taxpayer-supported highway. Not only that, but the state also stood to lose $900,000 in federal funds for the North Central Highway if a toll bridge were to be built. Instead, the state approved funding for its own bridge. However, the construction of the
Wanapum Dam Wanapum Dam is a run-of-the-river hydroelectricity, hydroelectric project located on the Columbia River downstream (south) from Vantage, Washington where Interstate 90 in Washington, Interstate 90 crosses the Columbia from Grant County, Washingto ...
downriver of the bridge in the 1960s flooded the town of Vantage, and state officials decided to replace the existing two-lane bridge, which had become unsafe for high volume traffic, with a new four-lane bridge. The old bridge was dismantled and put into storage. Meanwhile, at Lyons Ferry, crossings of the Snake River were done by ferry, but the construction of the
Lower Monumental Dam Lower Monumental Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete, run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. Located on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, it bridges Franklin and Walla Walla counties; it is south of Kahlotu ...
caused the river to slow, thus increasing crossing time. State officials then decided to reconstruct this bridge at that location.


See also

*
List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) __NOTOC__ This is a list of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in the US state of Washington. Bridges See also * List of tunnels documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) Referenc ...
*
List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) This is a list of bridges and tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. See also *List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) *Lis ...
* Vantage Bridge


References


External links

* * {{Registered Historic Places Bridges completed in 1927 Bridges in Franklin County, Washington Bridges over the Snake River Cantilever bridges in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, Washington National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Washington Relocated buildings and structures in Washington (state) Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Steel bridges in the United States Transportation buildings and structures in Columbia County, Washington 1927 establishments in Washington (state)