Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sunday Bridge Series #8: West Seattle Bridge


Sunday Bridge Series: West Seattle Bridge
Photo & Text Copyright 2010 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
There are actually three bridges in view here, the tallest and longest is the West Seattle Bridge which spans the east and west branches of the Duwamish Waterway and the southern tip of Harbor Island. This is the main route to West Seattle. The lower bridge to the right is the East Duwamish Waterway Bridge which is the main freight route for Harbor Island as well as a good route for bicyclists heading to West Seattle. It just underwent major restoration last year. The third bridge you'll have to look closely to see. It is a railroad bridge in the raised position just visible to the far left. When lowered, it carries trains from West Seattle to Harbor Island. Harbor Island was once the world's largest man-made island, created in 1908. It divides the Duwamish river into two forks that enter Elliott Bay. This conjunction of the waterway and the bay and the industrial areas along its shores are a super fund clean up site, one of the major issues confronting Seattle. This area houses many types of industry that employ thousands of Seattlites and bring in billions of dollars to our city. The car bridges are on a direct route to the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is another major challenge facing Seattle. It must be replaced due to age and earthquake damage, but new plans have proven controversial, contentious, and no clear way forward after several years of public votes and tussles between city and state government to create a workable, affordable plan.

Visit Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridge Series to see bridges from all over, and join us there if you have a bridge shot you'd like to share!

17 comments:

cieldequimper said...

Bonjour Kim! Is that a tiltshift? It's gorgeous.
Ah... the joys of urban planning. Have a wonderful Sunday!

brattcat said...

Love this treatment. You take us precisely where you want us to go in this image.

Small City Scenes said...

The infamous West Seattle Bridge. I have never seen it quite like this. Good idea. MB

Pat said...

Three for one and a tiltshift, too. Good one(s)!

B SQUARED said...

An awful lot to take in. Love the focus you used.

GreensboroDailyPhoto said...

Just what my eyes on Sunday morning, a photo that tells the eye where to focus! This photo has both horizontal and vertical interest. I agree with B squared a (wonderfully) "awful lot to take in."

Jan
GDP

Unknown said...

that's a long bridge. i enjoy your bokeh treatment.

Kaori said...

Love the miniture shot! The bridges really stand out :-D

Louis la Vache said...

WOW, Kim - a "hat trick" in one shot! Excellent!
No, you can't take the next two Sundays off because you got three in one today!
;-D

Louis la Vache said...

The urban battles you describe there in Seattle are very much akin to the battles in the Bay Area over how best to replace the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The delays caused by all the political infighting added an estimated $400,000,000 to the cost of the replacement span....

Halcyon said...

I like these flattened out photos. They look really neat.

Chuck Pefley said...

Three-fer ... but I think I'm seeing a 4th in the middle foreground ... the Viaduct, I believe?

Nice long-lens compressed photo, Kim. I think I see my MP3 crossing the high bridge -:)))

Oakland Daily Photo said...

That long undulating freeway looks like it's experiencing an earthquake right now. Makes me dizzy just thinking about driving on it.

Dawning Inspiration said...

I'm so glad I don't have to commute down that way - with all the traffic. Gorgeous shot though - love the DOF!

Rob said...

Fantastic photo, three bridges in one! Love the effect of creating a toylike tilt shift image.

Don and Krise said...

Great job Kim. You certainly gave everybody a taste of Seattle and some of it's roadways.

Chow Down Seattle said...

Love the Tilt-shift effect. Great photo!