After nearly 2 years, Seattle’s new Fairview Ave N Bridge to open this weekend

SEATTLE — The new Fairview Avenue North Bridge in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood will open to traffic on Sunday.

The city will have an opening ceremony on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., where pedestrians and bikers can cross it before the bridge opens to vehicles the next day.

The aging wooden bridge between South Lake Union and Eastlake near the historic Lake Union Steam Plant building was closed by the Seattle Department of Transportation in Sept. 2019 because it did not meet safety standards.

Built in 1948, it 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.

The new bridge 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.

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