George Washington Memorial Bridge

For other bridges of the same name, see Washington Bridge .

The George Washington Memorial Bridge (commonly called the Aurora Bridge) is a cantilever and truss bridge that carries Aurora Avenue N. (State Route 99) over the west end of Seattle's Lake Union between Queen Anne and Fremont, just east of the Fremont Cut. The bridge is long, wide, and above the water, and is owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The bridge was opened to traffic on February 22, 1932. It was accepted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The bridge is a popular location for suicide jumpers and numerous reports have used the bridge as a case study in fields ranging from suicide prevention to the effects of prehospital care on trauma victims. In 1998 a bus driver was shot and killed while driving over the bridge, causing his bus to crash and resulting in the death of one of the passengers.

Design

The bridge is long, wide, above the water and is owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation. Some 828 timber piles were driven for the foundation of the...
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