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KIRO Newsradio historian Feliks Banel delivers his All Over The Map feature Friday mornings on Seattle's Morning News

All Over The Map

Before the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge was built, electric transmission towers had to be moved out of the way; this circa 1958 view is looking south from just north of what's now the Burke Gilman Trail. (Seattle Municipal Archives) There were originally three tall towers and two shorter towers used to create a high crossing over the Ship Canal in 1931; one of the three tall towers was eliminated when the others were relocated 100 feet to the west in 1958. (Seattle Municipal Archives) A contractor jacked up the towers and rolled them west on log cribbing in October 1958. (Seattle Municipal Archives) Close up of the south tower being moved west in October 1958; the towers were originally built by Seattle City Light in 1931. (Seattle Municipal Archives) A recent view with the base of the north tower in the foreground and the south tower in the distance. (Feliks Banel/KIRO Newsradio) Close up of the 1931 structure of the south tower. (Feliks Banel/KIRO Newsradio) A 1948 nautical chart shows the location of the two towers nearest the Ship Canal; this was a decade before the towers were moved 100 feet west to make way for the Ship Canal Bridge. (NOAA Archives)
When the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge almost became a “$13 million parking lot”