McGraw Street Bridge Ready for the Future

By Mary Chapman Cole of the Queen Anne Historical Society

The picturesque McGraw Street Bridge was recently opened again after a 9-month closure for seismic retrofitting. The City of Seattle funded the $7.5 million construction project thanks to the Levy to Move Seattle, which was approved by voters in 2015.

The two-lane McGraw Street bridge (or the “Gully Bridge” as we called it when I was growing up) was constructed over the Wolf Creek Ravine between 2nd Avenue North and Nob Hill Avenue North in 1936. Although it wears its 88 years well, the foundation of the bridge needed additional reinforcing to withstand any potential earthquake activity.

During the bridge closure from January to October 2024, carbon fiber wrapping was added around the bridge's crossbeams, arches, and columns, a concrete infill wall was added around the existing arch underneath the bridge deck, cracked concrete was repaired, and concrete blocks and supportive shells were added to the bridge's columns and crossbeams.

This is the second bridge to span this part of the ravine over the last 110 years. The first was a wooden trestle bridge built in 1914 to complete the boulevard around the hill. By 1935, the wooden bridge had too many rotten timbers, which made it alarmingly rickety.

Even though this was at the height of the Great Depression, grant money for a new bridge was secured from the Public Works Administration and the City of Seattle matched it. An additional smaller grant by the Works Progress Administration was used for labor costs to clear the bridge site in the ravine. The new concrete bridge with electric lights, designed by City of Seattle Engineer Clark Eldridge, was opened on September 15, 1936.

The McGraw Street Bridge is a designated city landmark since 1979, along with the entire Queen Anne Boulevard.