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At 2:38 a.m. on June 11, 1978, the freighter Chavez rammed the West Seattle Bridge over the Duwamish West Waterway, thereby closing it to automobile traffic for the next six years. The pilot and master were both found negligent in causing the collision. The collision led to the opening of the current West Seattle Bridge two years later.
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Background
The bridge was constructed in 1924. Increasing traffic over the years had made the bridge one of Seattle's worst chokepoints. Seattle planners had worked on a higher bridge to supplement it, and had multiple funding sources lined up, but these funding sources backed out due to a corruption scandal. By 1975, the project was widely considered dead. Federal highway administrator Norbert Tiemann remarked, "Short of knocking it down, there is nothing else. And you certainly wouldn't want to go that route." Such a disaster would qualify the project for federal bridge replacement funds.
Collision
On June 11, 1978, the Chavez struck the bridge. No one was hurt in the collision, but it resulted in the bridge being stuck open. The bridge was irreparably damaged.
Aftermath
The ship's pilot, Rolf Neslund, was forced into retirement because of the accident. He was likely too old to be piloting tugs, and also had a drinking problem. He transferred his pension money to his wife, Ruth, fearing he would lose it in a lawsuit. He later discovered that Ruth had spent all of his pension money. Police believe that in an argument over the pension money, Ruth shot and killed her husband on August 8, 1980. Afterwards, police believe that Ruth and her brother chopped up his body and burnt his remains at their home on Lopez Island. The body was never found - however, with no sign of Rolf, Ruth was charged in 1983 for the murder and stood trial in 1985. Ruth died in prison of natural causes in 1993.
The proposed high span West Seattle Bridge, which had previously lost funding, had a new source of funding in federal bridge replacement funds. The federal funding allowed the new bridge to be constructed, opening in 1984.