The Fremont Bridge is a double-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 ...

that spans the

Fremont Cut The Fremont Cut is a canal in Seattle, Washington, United States, that connects Lake Union to the east with Salmon Bay to the west. It is part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound, and is long and wide. ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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 ...

. The bridge, which connects Fremont Avenue North and 4th Avenue North, connects the neighborhoods of Fremont and Queen Anne. The Fremont Bridge was opened on Friday June 15, 1917, at a cost of $410,000. The first traffic over the bridge was to "owl cars", the last run of the trolleys, and then after 5am the same day to all other traffic. The Lake Washington Ship Canal was dedicated on July 4, 1917, which has caused confusion about the opening date, for this bridge crosses the canal. The Fremont Bridge is the first of four city bascules to cross the canal, the others being

Ballard Bridge The Ballard Bridge, also known as the 15th Avenue Bridge, is a double-leaf bascule bridge in Seattle, Washington. It carries 15th Avenue NW over Seattle's Salmon Bay between Ballard to the north and Interbay to the south. The Ballard Bridge foll ...

(1917), University Bridge (1919), and

Montlake Bridge The Montlake Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge that carries State Route 513 (Montlake Boulevard) over Seattle's Montlake Cut—part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal—connecting Montlake and the University District. It is the easternmo ...

(1925). The bridge was added to 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 artistic ...

in 1982, and is also a designated city landmark, ID #110347.In its early years, before the construction of the nearby

Aurora Bridge The Aurora Bridge (officially called the George Washington Memorial Bridge) is a cantilever and truss bridge in Seattle, Washington, United States. It carries State Route 99 ( Aurora Avenue North) over the west end of Seattle's Lake Union an ...

in 1932, the Fremont Bridge had the most vehicle traffic of any bascule bridge in the United States. In another respect, it remains among the busiest even today: due to its low vessel clearance of , the Fremont Bridge opens an average of 35 times a day, which makes it the most frequently opened drawbridge in the United States and one of the busiest bascule bridges in the world. Federal law gives marine traffic the right-of-way over vehicular traffic; however, the Fremont Bridge is closed to most water traffic during rush hours. The Fremont Bridge was originally painted a dull green. In 1972, the Fremont Improvement Committee picked a new color, Fremont Orange, and residents approved the change. The bridge's blue and orange color was chosen by voters at a 1985 street fair. In 2006, the Fremont Bridge underwent a $41.9 million restoration project to replace the approaches and maintenance shop, as well as renovation of the mechanical and electrical systems that operate the bascule. The approaches were completed in May 2007 and testing lasted through the Spring of 2008. In 2014 the city began repainting the bridge. The bridge received a permanent art installation in February 2018 as part of an artist residency program coinciding with the centennial of the bridge and two of the ship canal's other bascule bridges. The Fremont Bridge was outfitted with what is to be the first of three dynamic lighting designs. The

and University Bridge will also receive installations assuming funding can be secured. A bicycle counter was installed in 2012. It was the first of twelve counters in the city, as of 2018. Bike traffic reached 1.12 million rides in 2019, a 13% increase from the year before.

Earlier bridges

The present bridge is actually the third bridge at this location. A low trestle bridge was built in 1890 or 1891. In 1911, in anticipation of the construction of the Ship Canal, it was replaced by a higher trestle bridge. While that bridge was always intended as temporary, it proved even more so than planned, because early in the afternoon of March 12, 1914, the Fremont dam, which controlled the level of Lake Union, gave way. Over the course of a day, the lake level lowered by nine feet, stranding vessels and floating homes, and rupturing the central portion of the second Fremont bridge. The

Stone Avenue Bridge The Stone Avenue Bridge was a bridge in Seattle that connected Stone Avenue (now Stone Way North) in Wallingford with Westlake Avenue just north of Halladay Street. Its northern terminus was in the area of what today is North 34th Street and Nort ...

, which included a streetcar trestle from Westlake Avenue to Stone Way, remained intact. Streetcar traffic that had used the Fremont Bridge was rerouted over that trestle until the completion of the present-day bridge.

Earlier bridges

References

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