Harbor Island

I rode around Seattle a bit today, including a tour of Harbor Island, which sits between downtown Seattle and West Seattle. The island is entirely reclaimed land used for port operations, including bulk fuel, rail, and container shipping. This picture was taken from a vacant lot on the west side, looking southwest across the main channel of the Duwamish River.

Seattle was the fifth-biggest port in the US by container volume [2005] but has since slipped to ninth place in the US [2007]. It's hard to compare against Vancouver BC, because the port authority there combines traffic figures across the whole metro region. (Tacoma is counted separately in the US figures).

While in the area, I crossed the Spokane Street double-leaf swing bridge for the novelty of it.