Ballard Locks

About

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay in Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south.

The Ballard Locks carry more boat traffic than any other lock in the U.S., and the locks, along with the fish ladder and the surrounding Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens, attract more than one million visitors annually, making it one of Seattle's top tourist attractions. The construction of the locks profoundly reshaped the topography of Seattle and the surrounding area, lowering the water level of Lake Washington and Lake Union by 8.8 feet (2.7 m), leaving existing piers high and dry, adding miles of new waterfront land, and reversing the flow of rivers. The Locks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and have been designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.