US 12 - Wishkah Street Bridge, Aberdeen, WA
N 46° 58.630 W 123° 48.668
10T E 438307 N 5202946
This is one of the 17 moveable bridges on state routes in the State of Washington.
Waymark Code: WMH5HX
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 05/26/2013
Views: 8
The Wishkah Street Drawbridge in Aberdeen, Washington was originally built for the City of Aberdeen, but was purchased in 1935 by the State of Washington (who later built the Heron Street swing bridge a few blocks away in 1949, and rerouted traffic so that westbound traffic uses the Wishkah Street drawbridge and eastbound traffic uses the Heron Street swing bridge).
The bridge is built in a low-lying flatland at the head of Grays Harbor, a location historically a bustling lumber town where the riverways were vital to the transporation of goods. It was essential that drawbridges be built into bridges, to accomodate the river traffic. At low tide, the clearance between the river and the bridge is only about 19 feet. The bridge was built for a cost between $183,000-$200,000.
Bascule bridges are built in 3 main types, all relying on a counterweight to balance the load of the movable portion of the bridge (called a leaf); with the counterweight enabling the system to function on a relatively small motor when opening and closing the bridge. The leaf of this bridge is a 145' Warren through truss which supports a 27' wide road deck and two 5' wide sidewalks on either side. For complete history, technical data including drawings, visit this link: (
visit link)
To view historial photos of the Wishkah Street bridge, visit this link at the Library of Congress and in the search box type in Photograph Wishkah Bridge:
(
visit link) wa0433&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co =hh&st=gallery&sg = true
I will attach some photos from the Library of Congress also, which are public domain photos. (one shows the bridge in the lifted position).