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Bridges Spanning Lake Union

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Four bridges span the waterway within Lake Union's perimeter.

The Fremont Bridge crosses the Lake Washington Ship Canal between the neighborhood of Fremont and the west side of Lake Union at the base of Queen Anne Hill. It opened to traffic on June 15, 1917, and was designated a City of Seattle landmark on December 28, 1981.

The University Bridge also spans the Lake Washington Ship Canal, connecting the University District with Eastlake. It opened to traffic on July 1, 1919.

Both the Fremont and the University bridges are bascule bridges with counterweight balancing and cantilevered leafs (the sections of roadway that raise and lower). Both open frequently to allow facilitate boat traffic through the waterway. In 1982 both were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The George Washington Memorial Bridge, commonly known as the Aurora Bridge, was dedicated on February 22, 1932. The nearly 3,000-foot, steel cantilever structure spans Lake Union between the Fremont and Queen Anne neighborhoods and completed the final link of the Pacific Coast Highway (later designated US 99, and later still, decommissioned to SR 99) from Canada to Mexico. Dominating the view north from South Lake Union, the bridge was a symbol of modernity and the first major highway bridge built in Seattle. On December 28, 1981 the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board designated the bridge an historic landmark.

The Lake Washington Ship Canal Bridge/Interstate 5 Freeway Bridge (the part of Interstate 5 that connects Seattle's University District to Capitol Hill) opened to traffic in December 1962. At 4,429 feet long, it was when it opened the largest bridge of its kind ever built in the Northwest. It is a steel truss double-deck bridge, carrying eight lanes of traffic on the upper deck and four reversible lanes of traffic on the lower deck.

By Paula Becker, September 25, 2012

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