Ballard Swing Bridge (Old)

Per the image source: "In February 1916, the Army Corps of Engineers prepared to lower the waters of Lake Washington and raise those of Salmon Bay. Since this would inundate the Fourteenth Avenue NW Bridge, and since the Ballard Bridge was only half finished, the War Department ordered the Fourteenth Avenue NW Bridge to be raised. On April 10, 1916, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance (35942) to raise its approaches and drawspan and appropriated $5,800 from the General Fund for the purpose.

On December 15, 1917, the Ballard Bridge, a double-leaved bascule bridge that spanned Salmon Bay at 15th Avenue NW, finally opened to traffic. At this point the War Department considered the Fourteenth Avenue NW Bridge an obstruction to navigation. On August 15, 1918, the War Department ordered the city of Seattle to remove the bridge, "the work of removal to be commenced within two weeks and to be completed within two months from the date of service of this order" (Keppel to the City of Seattle, August 15, 1918). In order to comply, on November 25, 1918, the Seattle City Council passed an emergency ordinance (38937) directing the Board of Public Works to remove the drawbridge."

Doug - I think you get successor and predecessor confused. Any idea why this bridge only lasted 6 years?