The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, officially the Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge, and commonly called the SR 520 Bridge or 520 Bridge, was a floating bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that carried State Route 520 across Lake Washington, connecting Medina with the Montlake/Union Bay district of Seattle.
The bridge's total length was approximately 15,580 feet (4,750 m). Its 7,578-foot (2,310 m)[2] floating section was the longest floating bridge in the world until April 11, 2016, when its replacement exceeded it by 130 feet (40 m).
The bridge was named for Evergreen Point, the westernmost of the three small Eastside peninsulas that SR 520 crosses. (The other two are Hunts Point and Yarrow Point.) In 1988, it was renamed for the state's 15th governor, Albert D. Rosellini, who had advocated its construction.
Although there were plans to replace the bridge several years following its completion, it was not until much later that investigations revealed the aging bridge to be in poor condition and unable to withstand the major hazards for which it was originally designed. This finding may have accelerated plans to finally replace it. In response to these hazards and the need to expand the current infrastructure, construction on a replacement began in 2012; the new bridge opened in April 2016. The original bridge was closed to traffic on April 22, 2016.
History
Aerial view of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge under construction, 1962. This shows the causeway extending from Foster Island in the Washington Park Arboretum roughly east to where Union Bay opens up into Lake Washington. Evergreen Point is across the lake.
The bridge was opened for commuter traffic on August 28, 1963, after three years of construction. It was built as a four-lane toll bridge to provide easy access from Seattle to Eastside communities such as Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond. The total cost of the bridge, in 1961 dollars, was $21 million (at least $127 million in 2011 dollars). To make up for this cost, commuters paid a 35-cent toll in each direction until 1979. The toll booths were then converted into bus stops.
The bridge affected many communities on the Eastside. Redmond's population saw a dramatic increase, jumping from less than 1,500 in 1960 to 11,000 in 1970. It was the second floating bridge to cross Lake Washington; the first was the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, built in 1940 as part of U.S. Route 10, later part of Interstate 90, which at its construction was the largest floating structure ever built.
On August 28, 1988, the bridge was officially renamed for governor Albert D. Rosellini; the Washington State Transportation Commission approved of the renaming three days earlier ahead of the bridge's 25th anniversary celebration. At the time, 109,000 vehicles used the bridge on an average day and 529 million vehicles were estimated to have crossed it since it opened.
Drawspan opening
The bridge was built with a drawspan in the center that could open for boats too tall to go under the bridge. The bridge opened by raising two 100-foot-long (30 m) steel grids about 7 feet (2.1 m) and moving an adjacent pontoon beneath them.
In 1989, an electrical fault caused the drawspan to open during rush hour, causing one death and five injuries. In 2000, a gravel barge struck the bridge.
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Google map- https://goo.gl/maps/Zd2WE16Eo9yMFKLj6
12910 Totem Lake Blvd NE #103, Kirkland, WA 98034
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