Snake River Bridge

Snake River Bridge
use	Passenger vehicles
Crossing of	Snake River
place	near Starbuck , Washington
construction	Gerber girder bridge
overall length	618 m
start of building	1926
completion	1927
opening	1968 (at the current location)
	location

46.589688888889 -118.21941388889Coordinates: 46 ° 35 '23 " N , 118 ° 13' 10" W.

The Snake River Bridge (also known as Lyons Ferry Bridge known) is situated at the confluence of the Snake River and Palouse River near Starbuck and is the oldest existing Gerber girder bridge made of steel in the US state of Washington . The bridge carries State Route 261 and was inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places under number 82004207 . It is adjacent to Lyons Ferry State Park and the Joso Railway Bridge .

Original construction

The structure was originally built between 1926 and 1927 as the Vantage Ferry Bridge and carried the North Central Highway over the Columbia River in Vantage , Washington, where it replaced a four-car ferry . By 1923 the ferry had carried 50,000 people annually across the river, and it was clear that it would have to be replaced by a bridge. Originally the project consisted of a toll bridge, which was met with opposition from Governor Louis F. Hart , since it would have been a toll bridge on a highway financed by taxpayers money. Not only that, but the state would also have lost $ 900,000 in federal funding to the North Central Highway if the bridge had been built as a toll road. Instead, the state approved the financing of its own bridge.

Later, when the construction of the Wanapum dam flooded the town of Vantage downstream, those responsible in the state administration decided to replace the bridge with a four-lane new construction, as the old bridge was no longer sufficiently stable for the increased traffic . The old bridge was dismantled and stored.

Until the 1960s, the Snake River at Lyons Ferry was crossed by a ferry, but the construction of the Lower Monumental Dam caused the flow to slow down and the time it took to cross over was therefore longer. The responsible people therefore decided to rebuild the stored bridge at this point. It was opened to traffic in 1968.

Individual evidence

^ Historic Bridges. Washington State Department of Transportation, accessed August 10, 2007 .
^ National Register Information System. In: National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, March 15, 2006, accessed October 16, 2015 .
↑ ^a ^b Snake River Bridge at Lyons' Ferry, State Route 261 spanning Snake River, Starbuck vicinity, Columbia County, WA. In: Historic American Engineering Record. National Park Service, accessed August 10, 2007 .
↑ ^a ^b Priscilla Long: Washington rebuilds an historic steel cantilever bridge as the Lyons Ferry Bridge across the Snake River in 1968. HistoryLink, January 17, 2004, accessed August 10, 2007 .

[1] Historic Bridges. Washington State Department of Transportation, accessed August 10, 2007 .

[nris-2] National Register Information System. In: National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service, March 15, 2006, accessed October 16, 2015 .

[haer-3] Snake River Bridge at Lyons' Ferry, State Route 261 spanning Snake River, Starbuck vicinity, Columbia County, WA. In: Historic American Engineering Record. National Park Service, accessed August 10, 2007 .

[historylink-4] Priscilla Long: Washington rebuilds an historic steel cantilever bridge as the Lyons Ferry Bridge across the Snake River in 1968. HistoryLink, January 17, 2004, accessed August 10, 2007 .