Northwest Dive Club

Dive Site Name: (Sunken) I-90 Bridge

Current Sensitive: Sort of. There are weak currents, even in Lake Washington.

Location/Address: Seattle side of Lake Washington, just under the I-90 Bridge.

Directions:

- From I-5, take I-90 East to Ranier Ave. S.
- Left at McLellan St., go past stop sign, continue past light.
- Left at next stop sign, there is a park there.
- Left at next stop sign (Seward Park) approximately 1/2 mile to the bridge.
- You'll find a small parking lot on the right, just under the bridge.

Free Parking: Yes

Staging Area: Great staging area, a short walk from the water.

Surface Swim: Long surface swim - approx 80 yds

Nearby Facilities: None

Special Considerations: This dive should be considered one in an overhead environment, since there are pieces of the old bridge around and boats!. You compass will not work properly here, since the bridge is metal. But, once you find it you'll know that one direction is E and the other is W, based on depth you can figure out which is which. If you do suface swim to third bridge piling descend down the right there is a string line at the bottom that guides you to the bridge. It's also very silty bottom so be careful not to stir things up too much. Algae blooms in the Spring/Summer. Lastly, don't forget to weight yourself for Fresh Water.

Maximum Depth: 45' - 75'

Dive Site Description: A while back the original I-90 bridge broke off and sank. You can go down and see a section of the old bridge. This consists primarily of concrete structures and grating. There are quite a few crawdads to see and some sculpin and bass. This is a very interesting dive to do once. I wouldn't recommend doing it multiple times since once you've seen it, you've seen it. A good change from the norm, though.

My friends and I just dove this site on Saturday, June 24th. I've been wanting to do it, and they finally gave in. The dive was pretty cool. Surface swam all the way out to the eastern side of the western highrise, under the replacement I-90, then dropped down. The Ol' I-90 is on the southern side of the replacement I-90. The visibility was pretty decent (I think we made it just before the algae blooms). The sound of the vehicles can not only be heard, but at times, with the big trucks, be felt. We spent about 25 minutes checking it all out, then called it. I would go again with others who have not, but no other reason to do it again. I think the only aquatic changes for future dives would be more hubcaps, bottles, and cans laying around. A large bass was scene, as well as some other fish, so life can be seen...

A buddy of mine told me that you couldn't dive I-90 anymote due to homeland security. He and a buddy were there and when they came up the DOT was waiting for them and chewed them out big time.

I frequently dive under the I-90 bridge and on Sunday, someone sent me the link to this thread and suggested it might not be allowed. So I contacted Harbor Patrol on Monday, and they put me in touch with Archie Allen, the I-90 Bridge Manager. Mr. Allen was intrigued by the question, and asked for some time to research it.

He called me back today and told me "there is NOTHING ILLEGAL about diving under the I-90 bridge." He checked with Homeland Security, DOT, and even the WA State Ferries. No permit is necessary either.

So, yay! Go dive the bridge, it's a hoot.

Margaret

I've done that dive a few times. It's fun, and kind of spooky! Glad to hear its still legal.

I've been meaning to do this dive for a long time since I live maybe a half mile away. Some friends (NWUE) decided this would be the Wednesday dive location so I decided to join them. I'm also happy to hear it's legal since this was the main reason I kept away from this site for so long. The dive was good and by Lake Washington standards, the viz was great: 25ft (ish, maybe more.)

We found many hub caps, traffic cones, bottles, large speed limit sign, construction helmet, safety goggles, and the usual suspects: crawdad, sculpin type bottom dwellers, and some more mid-water, normal fishy looking fish. Trout? I have no idea what these lake fish are.

I was a little let down by the fact that this was just a 100ft long span in 50-70 ft of water. I was thinking there'd be like A WHOLE BRIDGE down there! After perusing the span, we (me and my Cuda enabled buddy) explored a bit north and deeper, down to about 100 ft. The debris field thins out the further away you get from the span.

Cool dive! You can really feel it when a heavy truck drives by. I like diving the lake, especially the day after a salt water dive for a nice proper gear rinse.

-Dennis M

This sounds like a fun dive that I might want to do some time, so I was looking at the directions in the OP to try to figure out where it is, but I cant. Im looking on Google Maps, and a left on McClellan will send you East. Another left will send you North, and a third left will send you West. This is a hell of a long way from Seward Park as shown on the map. And I cant find any roads you could take that would put you under I-90 with these directions either....

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=i+90+brid ... n&t=h&z=19

Directly under the bridge. =)

Awesome, thanks. I wasnt sure if it was under the current bridge, or if it was by Seward Park. Im new to the area, so I wasnt sure how big the collapse was, and if the bridge used to be at a different location or something. Im thinking that the directions in the OP should be changed though... Still dont see how those directions put you under the bridge =P

Well, since theres always a discrepancy about whether its legal or not, I called the King County Sheriffs Office and they directed me here: http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/ ... tm&r=1&f=G
Now im not all that familiar with the area, but it would seem that it is legal.... Thought id double check with the board before I went out there though

Yes its legal with a dive flag.
Yes the directions lead you from I-5 to Seward Park and then north along Lake Washington Boulevard to just underneath the I-90 bridge.

(ps there are better dive sites in Lake WA IMO, but this one is fair to start with)

Sea Goat wrote:I frequently dive under the I-90 bridge and on Sunday, someone sent me the link to this thread and suggested it might not be allowed. So I contacted Harbor Patrol on Monday, and they put me in touch with Archie Allen, the I-90 Bridge Manager. Mr. Allen was intrigued by the question, and asked for some time to research it.

He called me back today and told me "there is NOTHING ILLEGAL about diving under the I-90 bridge." He checked with Homeland Security, DOT, and even the WA State Ferries. No permit is necessary either.

So, yay! Go dive the bridge, it's a hoot.

Margaret

Archie is a good guy. Bridge maintenance is his full time job.

FWIW, my ex has a house on the south side of 90 on Lakeside that she is cool with me and a few guys gearing up and heading out from her dock (she's literally the first house on the right of the bridge) I cant think of a better place for a SI and a few beers. Get at me if you wanna put something together

Cool!