The Salmon Bay Bridge, also known as Bridge 6.3 on the

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

railroad, formerly Bridge No. 4 on the Great Northern Railroad, is a Strauss Heel-trunnion single-leaf

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

spanning

Salmon Bay Salmon Bay () is a portion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound, lying west of the Fremont Cut. It is the westernmost section of the canal and empties into Puget So ...

and connecting

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

/ Interbay to Ballard in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The bridge is located just west of Commodore Park. It carries the main line of the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

, the Scenic Subdivision, on its way north to Everett and south to

King Street Station King Street Station is a train station in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is served by Amtrak's '' Cascades'', '' Coast Starlight'', and ''Empire Builder'', as well as Sounder commuter trains run by Sound Transit. The station also anc ...

and Seattle's

Industrial District Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary industries, live and work. The concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nat ...

. The Salmon Bay Bridge, which is located west of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, is the last bridge to span the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal is a canal that runs through the city of Seattle and connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington to the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately diff ...

before it becomes

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. Built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway, it has an opening span of and has two tracks. Additionally, vessel clearance when lowered is 13.1 meters (43 feet) at mean high tide, and up to 15.3 meters (50 feet) at low tide. BNSF Railway initially planned to replace the Salmon Bay Bridge with a new

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swi ...

, but chose to repair failing components of the existing bridge following consultation with the local community. In September 2022, the federal government issued a US$25 million dollar grant to fund mechanical upgrades, while BNSF contributed another $70 million dollars toward the effort.

References

External links

The Salmon Bay rail bridge project
Bridges in Seattle Bascule bridges in the United States BNSF Railway bridges Railroad bridges in Washington (state) Bridges completed in 1914 Great Northern Railway (U.S.) bridges 1914 establishments in Washington (state) Steel bridges in the United States {{Washington-bridge-struct-stub