The Washington State Toll Bridge Authority was created in 1937 by the Washington State Legislature, with a mandate to finance, construct and operate toll bridges in the state of Washington.
[1] The first act of the Toll Bridge Authority was to purchase the Manette Bridge, previously a privately owned toll bridge;[2] it was made a toll-free crossing in January 1939.
[3] The agency then constructed several new bridges in the Puget Sound region that were intended to become toll-free crossings once their construction bonds had been retired.
These included the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, which was tolled from 1940 to 1943; and the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which opened in July 1940 and collapsed on November 7 during a windstorm.
[1][4] The Toll Bridge Authority began operating public ferries on June 1, 1951, when Washington State Ferries was created to take over the private Black Ball Line routes.