In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of HMS Discovery and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards, but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Saratoga Passage, which separates the mainland from what they believed was a peninsula. Thomas Coupe, a sea captain and founder of Coupeville, was the only man ever to sail a full-rigged ship through the strait discovered by Whidbey. In the early years of the 20th century, travelers of the horse-and-buggy era used an unscheduled ferry to cross from Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. To call the ferry, they banged a saw with a mallet and then sat back to wait. The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one over Canoe Pass to the north, and another over Deception Pass to the south. Pass Island lies between the two bridges. Construction began in August 1934, and the completed bridge was dedicated at noon on July 31, 1935. The Wallace Bridge and Structural Co. of Seattle, Washington provided 460 tons of steel for the Canoe Pass arch and 1130 tons for the Deception Pass span. The cost of the New Deal-era construction was $482,000, made possible through the Public Works Administration and county funds. In 1982, the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places ahead of a repainting project that cost more than the original construction cost. A second repainting was completed in 1997. A third repainting project began in May 2019 and is expected to be completed in late 2021 at a cost of $22.6 million. The bridge will retain its current color, named "Evergreen Green", using lead-free paint; the project also includes replacement of steel pieces that have signs of corrosion.
Bridge Facts
Height from water to roadway: about, depending on the tide
Roadway: two lanes, one in each direction
Sidewalks: sidewalk on each side
Width of bridge deck:
Total length:
Canoe Pass: one arch and three concrete T-beam approach spans
Deception Pass: two cantilever spans, one suspended span, and four concrete T-beam approach spans
Vehicle crossings: 20,000 per day on average
Maximum speed of current in Deception Pass at flood/ebb tide: 9 kts
Maximum speed of current in Canoe Pass at flood/ebb tide: 10 kts
12 total suicides by jumping from the bridge in 2009 and 15 in 2010
