When a vital roadway gets knocked out of service, it's our job to get it back open as quickly as possible for drivers, and emergency responders. Fixing something like a bridge fixed is by no means, a small feat. An average of 15,000 vehicles each day use the northbound lanes of the SR 529 Snohomish River bridge from Everett to Marysville. This hard-working blue-collar bridge has been around for 85 years and took quite a beating this weekend when a driver smacked an SUV into a couple of support beams.

For safety, our inspectors closed the northbound bridge until the damaged support beams could be fixed. These are critical pieces that support the bridge deck. Replacement parts can't be ordered out of a catalogue, we had to custom make them from raw steel.















A team of about 30 worked in shifts around the clock to design, fabricate and install a new diagonal and vertical support beam.

We didn't want to risk further stress on the bridge deck, so we needed to park heavy equipment on the ground and use boom lifts to access the damaged support beams. Replacement parts were up to 30 feet long and weighed as much as 1000 pounds. It's really tough to safely get those pieces in place in the driving rain with high winds.















After about 500 combined hours of work, the northbound SR 529 Snohomish River bridge reopened to traffic at about 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 4. We don't roll the dice on safety. It's pretty amazing how quickly it all came together. In 81 hours, the bridge went from damaged to repaired. We closed it, stabilized it, designed replacement parts, fabricating and installed them - and only disrupting one event commute for drivers.

by guest blogger Erica Taylor

Although its service may have gone unnoticed by many who fly by the little steel bridge in the roar of I-5 traffic, those commuting from Marysville and Everett have appreciated the SR 529 Ebey Slough bridge for 86 wonderful years. From 1927 to mid-2012 the bridge has stood slightly to the east of what is now I-5 spanning the Ebey Slough. 

What makes this little bridge so great? Maybe you always take I-5 to get where you need to go. I always do. Well, when construction on the Ebey Slough bridge started in 1925, there was no easy way to travel between Everett and Marysville (at least not without a boat) and there certainly was no I-5. When it opened in 1927, the swing-span bridge had one 11-foot lane in each direction, was the pinnacle of technology and was a revolution for transportation. The bridge could swing open to let marine traffic through and then close to allow drivers to commute north and south. The two sleepy little towns of Marysville and Everett were now connected to each other and to the rest of the state. Commerce boomed and the towns thrived.

Eighty-six years later, the hustle and bustle of these not-so-sleepy towns made this little steel bridge seem out of date and inefficient for modern users. The bridge was still important, but instead of smoothing out the commute, it was beginning to clog it up. So, in the summer of 2010, we began construction on a new Ebey Slough Bridge. The new bridge is taller – meaning no more pesky bridge openings – wider – meaning less congestion and more room for today’s bigger cars – and is more user-friendly for bicyclists and pedestrians.  

With the new bridge now half open to drivers, crews are ready to deconstruct the old bridge. To honor and officially retire the old bridge, we gathered Thursday, June 14, with city officials from Marysville and Everett, the Marysville Historical Society, bridge tenders, and families of some of the first people to work on the old bridge. Everyone shared stories of heroics, love and service, and bid a fond farewell to the bridge that served the community so well for so long.

Robert Rasmussen Jr (left) and four generations of Rasmussens were there to walk across the bridge one last time.

While all the stories were special and meaningful in their own way, Robert Rasmussen Jr. shared some of the most touching and emotional memories. His father, Robert Rasmussen, helped build the bridge and was the first bridge tender when it opened in 1927. When Robert Jr. came home after fighting in World War II, he went straight to the bridge to see his dad at work.  After being apart for several years, the two were reconnected on the bridge that held so many memories for both.
Now that we’ve celebrated the life of the old bridge and given it a proper farewell, we’re looking forward to the future and welcoming the new Ebey Slough bridge into an equally memorable long life of service.

View more photos of the farewell event.

by guest blogger Bronlea Mishler

As you drive through Marysville on I-5, it might be easy to overlook the little steel bridge just to the east, spanning the Ebey Slough on State Route 529. But if you’re stuck in seemingly never-ending freeway traffic, that little bridge can become a driver’s best friend. Built in 1925, the swing-span bridge across the Ebey Slough gives local drivers the option to avoid I-5 congestion as they travel between Everett and Marysville.

Back in its heyday, however, the span was one of the few options for crossing the Ebey Slough. At the time, the bridge was the pinnacle of then-modern technology. It could pivot open at its center to allow tall boats to pass, then swing closed to allow traffic across. One 11-foot-wide lane in each direction gave drivers ample room, and a three-foot sidewalk gave bicyclists and pedestrians space to cross, too. 

Fast-forward 86 years, and that once-modern bridge now seems narrow – unsuited for today’s wider vehicles – with not enough room for pedestrians and cyclists to pass. And frequent openings for marine vessels can put a serious hitch in drivers’ daily commutes.

Fortunately, a solution is on the way. Last year, crews began work on a replacement Ebey Slough Bridge – this time taller, wider, and built out of sturdy steel girders with a concrete roadway. Standing 13 feet taller than the old bridge, the new span won’t need to open for marine traffic. And with two 12-foot driving lanes in each direction, plus two six-foot sidewalks and two five-foot bike lanes, there’s plenty of room for all types of commuters.

This month marks a major milestone for construction crews as they begin setting 49 girders, each weighing in at approximately 31 tons. It’s more visible work for drivers, too. Most of the work completed since last year has been fairly innocuous: Crews have built temporary work platforms above the slough, drilled deep holes for steel and concrete pilings, and prepared the support structure for the steel girders. Now that the girders are in place, the new bridge is really beginning to take shape – literally. For the first time, the new 680-foot span is beginning to look like a bridge, not just a forest of concrete pillars.

Placing each of the girders – which stand seven feet tall and range in length from 100 to 135 feet – is a time-consuming process. Two cranes pluck a girder from the work platform, carefully guide it into position, and then gently swing it into place atop the concrete pilings. The crews typically set 3 girders per day, and expect to wrap up placement of all the girders by the end of June.

By April 2012, drivers who have patiently (or not-so-patiently) been watching the new bridge take shape will finally get a chance to drive on the span. Crews plan to open the bridge to northbound traffic in April; southbound traffic will have to wait to use the new span until August, as crews wrap up work in those lanes. Once all traffic is on the new bridge, crews will demolish the old steel span.