All proceeds from registration benefit Historic Seattle. No funds are received by SDOT.

Waterways are the lifeblood of Seattle. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) operates and maintains over 149 bridges throughout the city, including four movable bridges. Three of these are drawbridges, known as bascule bridges: Ballard Bridge, Fremont Bridge, and University Bridge. The fourth movable bridge is the Spokane Street Bridge, a swing bridge.

The Fremont Bridge crosses the Lake Washington Ship Canal to link the Fremont and Queen Anne neighborhoods. Opened on July 4, 1917, the Fremont Bridge celebrated over 670,000 openings and counting as of March 2017. Just 30 feet above the water, the bridge rises for marine traffic on average of about 35 times a day, making it one of the busiest bascule bridges in the world. Construction work begun in September 2005 and completed in 2008 addressed the approaches and new deck work. This on-site visit with the City’s bridge experts will reveal all the workings.

Cost:
$30 general public / $20 members

Both the 10:00 am and 12:30 pm tours are sold out. 

Photo: Fremont Bridge. Larry Kreisman.