Puget Sound Navigation Co. The system carries 4 million passengers in its first year. 1953 - The Alaskan Way Viaduct is completed along the Elliott Bay waterfront, which was once dominated by railroad tracks. It is still in service. State Highway Department begins preliminary work on Interstate 90, starting more than three decades of conflict over whether to build a second bridge and additional lanes across Mercer Island from Bellevue to Seattle. 1961 - Hood Canal Bridge opens.
State grants special parking privileges to people with disabilities.
1963 - Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, also known now as the 520 bridge, opens. 1965 - State Department of Motor Vehicles is created. The Kalakala is retired. The freeway era begins in the Northwest. 1973 - Voters pass a referendum approving the sale of vanity license plates.