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.
Famous quotes containing the words washington, toll, bridge and/or authority:
“Thou who, sinless, yet hast known
All of man’s infirmity!
Then, from Thine eternal throne,
Jesus, look with pitying eye.”
—George Washington Doane (1799–1859)
“one is in a shoe factory cursing the machine,
one is at the aquarium tending a seal,
one is dull at the wheel of her Ford,
one is at the toll gate collecting,
one is tying the cord of a calf in Arizona,
one is straddling a cello in Russia....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“London Bridge is broken down,
Dance o’er my lady lee,
London Bridge is broken down,
With a gay lady.
How shall we build it up again?
Dance o’er my lady lee,”
—Unknown. London Bridge (l. 1–6)
“The idea of feminine authority is so deeply embedded in the human subconscious that even after all these centuries of father-right the young child instinctively regards the mother as the supreme authority. He looks upon the father as equal with himself, equally subject to the woman’s rule. Children have to be taught to love, honor, and respect the father.”
—Elizabeth Gould Davis (b. 1910)