The Washington Toll Bridge Authority was created in 1937 by the Washington State Legislature, with a mandate to finance, construct and operate toll bridges.
The first act of the Authority was to purchase the Manette Bridge, previously a privately owned toll bridge. The Authority next began construction of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Bonds on the bridges were to be paid off solely by tolls and did not constitute indebtedness for the state of Washington.
The Lake Washington Floating Bridge opened in July 1940 with a toll, which was lifted in 1943 after bridge costs had been recovered. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which also opened in July 1940, earned the name Galloping Gertie when it collapsed during a heavy windstorm on November 7, 1940.
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“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
—George Washington (1732–1799)
“The fact that the mental health establishment has equated separation with health, equated women’s morality with soft-heartedness, and placed mothers on the psychological hot seat has taken a toll on modern mothers.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)
“Oh, who will now be able to relate how Pantagruel behaved in face of these three hundred giants! Oh my muse, my Calliope, my Thalie, inspire me now, restore my spirits, because here is the ass’s bridge of logic, here is the pitfall, here is the difficulty of being able to describe the horrible battle undertaken.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the bootmaker.”
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)