At 2:38 a.m. on June 11, 1978, the
freighter ''Antonio Chavez'' rammed the
West Spokane Street Bridge
The West Spokane Street Bridge was a pair of bascule bridges that crossed the west fork of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, United States. The bridges connected the SoDo and West Seattle neighborhoods over the river. The original bri ...
, thereby closing it to automobile traffic for the next six years. The pilot and master were both found negligent in causing the collision. The collision led to the opening of the current
West Seattle Bridge
The West Seattle Bridge, officially the Jeanette Williams Memorial Bridge, is a cantilevered segmental bridge that serves as the primary connection between West Seattle and important highways such as State Route 99 (and the tunnel through downt ...
in 1984. The incident occurred in west fork of the