Ballard Bridge - Fact Sheet

October 1, 2002

• The Ballard Bridge, also known as the 15th Avenue Bridge, first opened in December 1917.
• The bridge underwent a two-year, $5 million rehabilitation of its entire operating system, including:
• Installation of conduit and wiring on approaches to bridge.
• Replacement of wooden beams under pedestrian walkway supports.
• Improvement of stairway to the equipment area.
• Enlargement of equipment room to house the new electrical systems including the SCR drives (motor controllers), computers, and the backup generators.
• New gear boxes (weighing 22,500 lbs. each) for the north and south spans.
• Installation of a new back-up generator which replaces an archaic hand-operated system.
• Repair of the bridge expansion joints.
• Installation of a computer system that controls the entire operation all of the bridge opening functions, from bells and signals, to drawing up and lowering down of the bridge spans.
• A new control console was built for the bridge operator.
• Each moveable span weighs about 2 million pounds.
• Each new gearbox (4 total, two in each span) weighs 22,500 pounds.
• The bridge opens an average of 5,200 times a year.
• Average number of vehicles crossing the bridge daily is 58,500.
• Weekday averages - northbound: 29,418 southbound: 29,221.