Gribblenation

Long before US Route 99 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct the Seattle Waterfront along Elliott Bay was served by Railroad Avenue.  The corridor of Railroad Avenue had been commissioned by the Seattle city council in 1887 as planked roadway which carried not just rail traffic but pedestrians and carriages.  During the automotive era the corridor would become clogged with a mess of competing traffic attempting to negotiate the increasingly obsolete planked roadway.  Between 1934-1936 Railroad Avenue was modernized via installation of a seawall and was rechristened as "Alaskan Way."   Part 1 of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Legacy series covers the history of Railroad Avenue.  The blog cover photo is of Railroad Avenue facing north from Marion Street on the Seattle Waterfront in 1934.  Railroad Avenue can be seen below as it was displayed on the  1901 Cram's Seattle and Environs map This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page.  For more i...

  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...

  In many ways, the Montlake Bridge is the gateway to the University of Washington in Seattle. With its Gothic architectural touches, this bridge over the Montlake Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal fits right in with the university campus located just to the north. The Montlake Bridge spanning the Montlake Cut in Seattle was completed in 1925, the easternmost and the last built of four double-leaf bascule bridges that carry both vehicular and pedestrian traffic across the canal. Based on a Chicago design for bascule lift bridges, the Montlake Bridge is 345 feet long with a main span of 182 feet, a width of 40 feet, and a clearance of 19.8 feet. The bridge does open for vessels as needed, generally about 2,500 times per year. Serving as the only direct link between the Montlake neighborhood and the University District, the Montlake Bridge is part of WA 513. It should be noted that it was quite the process for the Montlake Bridge to become reality. Seattle voters denied funding f...

  Did you know that there is a troll that lives underneath the northern abutment of the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, Washington? In the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, the Fremont Troll looms large underneath the Aurora Bridge, at the crossroads of North 36th Street, and of course, Troll Avenue. Ever since the Aurora Bridge was built in 1932 for traffic crossing the Lake Washington Ship Canal following what was then part of US 99 (now WA 99), there have been reports of troll sightings underneath the bridge. Thanks to an art installation that was built in 1990, we can now say for certain that a particular troll lives under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. Eager to trade in shady activity for a new passion of city beautification, in 1989, the City of Seattle asked the Fremont Arts Council to launch an art competition to rehabilitate the area under the Aurora Bridge. The area under the bridge had become a local dumping ground as well as a haven for derelict activities such ...

The final location I checked out before leaving Washington was in the Pioneer Square neighborhood; the Seattle Underground. The Seattle Underground is a series of catacombs beneath Pioneer Square which were the original street grade.  When Denny Party arrived in what is now Seattle they attempted to establish a settlement called New York Alki on Alki Point in what is now the modern neighborhood of West Seattle.  The settlement was moved across Elliott Bay in 1852 to a low lying flat land which became the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. Pioneer Square was surveyed during low tides which led to various problems as the City of Seattle began to grow.  Waste plumbing was pumped into Elliott Bay via a wooden pipe system which would often back flow into the buildings during high tide.  In addition to the plumbing issues Pioneer Square was subject to frequent flooding from Elliott Bay.  The majority of original buildings in Seattle were wooden which would...