Gribblenation

One of the more interesting bridges found in Washington State is the Lyons Ferry Bridge. On the surface, the bridge may seem rather average. The Lyons Ferry Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge, spanning 530 feet across the Snake River near the confluence with the Palouse River, at the foot of Lyons Ferry State Park, and just a few miles south of the famous Palouse Falls. Washington State Route 261 (WA 261) is the highway that uses the Lyons Ferry Bridge to cross between Columbia County, Washington, and Franklin County, Washington. But what makes the bridge interesting is how the Lyons Ferry Bridge came to be. The story of the Lyons Ferry Bridge has a few different origin stories. The oldest human remains discovered in Washington State, just a few hundred yards from the current bridge site, dating back more than 11,000 years. For centuries, Native Americans crossed the Snake River here, followed by the explorations of Lewis & Clark. Later, early settlers following the ...

  Opened to the public on June 15, 1917, the iconic Fremont Bridge in Seattle, Washington was built as part of the construction of the Fremont Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal project. Named for the nearby Fremont neighborhood on the north side of the bridge, the Fremont Bridge is a 317-foot-long double-leaf pony truss bascule bridge that connects downtown Seattle and the Queen Anne neighborhood with Fremont and other neighborhoods north of the Lake Washington Ship Canal. The Fremont Bridge replaced temporary bridges that were built over the Ship Canal at Stone Avenue (now Stone Way) and in Fremont before the modern-day bridge was constructed. With a clearance of only 30 feet, the Fremont Bridge opens an average of 35 times a day, which earns it the claim as the busiest drawbridge on the planet.  The Fremont Bridge was designed by engineers Arthur H. Dimock and Frank A. Rapp, who arrived in Seattle in 1912 after designing railroad bridges for the railroad. This happened d...

The Grays River Covered Bridge is located near the town of Grays River in Wahkiakum County, Washington. Located just south of Washington State Route 4 (WA 4), the Grays River Covered Bridge was the last historic covered bridge in Washington State that could handle motor vehicle traffic. The 158-foot-long and 14-foot-wide Howe truss covered bridge crosses Grays River, facilitating the transportation of dairy and lumber products from western Wahkiakum County. The land surrounding the covered bridge is Ahlberg Park, named for an early resident who was instrumental in getting the covered bridge constructed. The covered bridge was built in 1905 by Hans P. Ahlberg, a Swedish immigrant and community leader who had founded the Grays River Grange in 1901, who was also a local farmer whose family owned property on both sides of the river. Local grange members and farmers lobbied Wahkiakum County commissioners to build a bridge that would allow horses, carriages, and wagons to cross the river, wh...

US Route 99 was aligned through the Snohomish County cities of Everett and Marysville when the US Route System was created during November 1926.  Early US Route 99 inherited the alignment of the Pacific Highway which was simplified during 1927 between Everett to Marysville way of Smith Island and Spenser Island.  US Route 99 was heavily modernized by way of the Broadway cutoff in Everett and Maryville bypass during 1954.  US Route 99 would be replaced by Interstate 5 when the freeway between Everett and Marysville opened to traffic during May 1965.  Featured as the blog cover is a view on former northbound US Route 99 atop the 1927 Snohomish River Bridge between Everett and Marysville.  US Route 99 can be seen on the 1965 Official Highway Map of the State of Washington passing through Everett on Broadway and the Marysville bypass.  This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more information pertaining to the other various seg...