Overview

The second phase of preservation work is complete for the State Route 99 George Washington Bridge in Seattle. It included cleaning, painting and steel repair. Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation also repaved the bridge deck and repaired expansion joints. The landmark structure is on the National Registry of Historic Places. This project keeps the bridge in a state of good repair, allowing it to continue serving people who travel between the Green Lake and Queen Anne neighborhoods.

How you benefit

• Preservation: This work protects the bridge from corrosion while preserving structural integrity.
• Economic: Maintaining the bridge is more cost-efficient than replacing it. Maintained properly, the bridge will continue to keep up with the high demand of traffic for years to come.
• Safety: Improving the highway surface eliminates and helps prevent future potholes, cracks and wheel ruts, making for a smoother ride for drivers. Repairing expansion joints reduces the chances that an aging expansion joint could become dislodged or fail, creating a hazard and forcing an emergency closure of the bridge.
• Environmental: Removing any remaining old lead-based paint and replacing it with lead-free paint is better for the surrounding environment.

Funding

This $36 million project was paid for with pre-existing funds, as well as money from the 2003 and 2005 gas taxes and the Connecting Washington program.