SEATTLE — After a 2-year closure for replacement, the Fairview Avenue N Bridge in the Eastlake neighborhood has reopened to pedestrians and motorists.
City officials and transportation leaders from Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) celebrated the debut of the new Fairview Avenue N Bridge, connecting the Eastlake and South Union neighborhoods, with a ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday.
The bridge was built in 1948 and was the last wooden bridge in the city that supported a public road.
The bridge was demolished and replaced at a cost of $52 million. Part of the Levy to Move Seattle package passed by voters in 2015 provided $27 million for the project, as well as funds from Seattle’s seismic retrofit program. Funding was also received from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Local Bridge Program.
SDOT closed the bridge in Sept. 2019 because it did not meet safety standards.
“You know, this is part of us building back, building back the city of Seattle, building back the economy, bridges bring people together and this is part of that,” said SDOT Director, Sam Zimbabwe.
The new bridge is seismically sound, has sidewalks on both sides of the street and a protected bike lane on the west side of the bridge overlooking the water.
SDOT also restored the floating walkway along the water below the west side of the bridge. There are also three new lookout platforms that overlook Lake Union.
“It’s great, these little cut outs where people can be on, it’s great, you get to see the planes taking off as you can probably hear and I love it,” said Eastlake resident, Ben Murphy, who was eager to attend the ribbon cutting following the nearly two year closure.
“It’s always a good thing, there’s a lot of stuff that needs a repair so seeing one of our oldest wooden bridges upgraded to the 21st century is just great to see,” Murphy added.
The bridge opened to pedestrians and cyclists Saturday morning. All other forms of transit will be able to use the bridge Saturday afternoon.