lawsuit, as an alternative to re-opening SSH 11A across the Hanford restricted zone. A private toll ferry connecting SSH 11A at Vernita to SSH 7C on the north side of the river began operating in November 1957 and was taken over by the state in May 1961. The state government completed construction of the paved highway along the Wahluke Slope on May 19, 1961, extending SSH 11A to a junction with SSH 11G south of Othello. As part of the agreement with the federal Atomic Energy Commission, the highway was ringed by fences and signs prohibiting parking and loitering, as well as controlled traffic signals that would allow for a large-scale evacuation of the Hanford area. The west end of SSH 11A was truncated to the newly-opened Yakima bypass (part of I-82) in November 1963. The Vernita Bridge began construction in October 1964 and was opened to traffic on October 1, 1965, replacing the state-run ferry. The bridge was funded using $3 million in bonds (equivalent to $ in dollars) that were paid off using a toll of 75 cents to $2.50 collected until 1977. During the 1964 state highway renumbering, SSH 11A was divided between three new state highways under the sign route system: State Route 24 (SR 24) from Yakima to the junction with SSH 11G (now SR 17), SR 170 from Ringold on the Columbia River to Mesa, and SR 260 between Mesa and Connell. The Ringold section of SR 170 was later transferred to Franklin County in 1967, per a clause in a 1963 highway bill that was triggered by the completion of SR 240. SR 24 was formally codified in 1970, with its eastern terminus changed to a junction with SR 26 south of downtown Othello. The Othello link was built by the end of the decade, effectively completing all of SR 24. Congestion on a section of SR 24 between I-82 and the east side of the Yakima River had worsened by the late 1990s and prompted the state government to consider a $35 million replacement and expansion project. The project was combined with a floodplain restoration plan proposed by the county government in response to a major flood in 1996 and originally considered building a second bridge upriver and realigning the highway. A revised plan placing the higher replacement bridge next to the existing crossing, saving costs and environmental mitigation for of wetlands,