5 weeks till South Park Bridge closure: “This is challenging”

(County rendering of what the South Park end of the SP Bridge will look like, right after 6/30 shutdown)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“This is challenging.”

That declaration repeated a few times Tuesday night by King County Transportation Director Harold Taniguchi summed up not only the logistics of closing the South Park Bridge forever and getting people around after the June 30th closure, but also the logistics of trying to round up money to replace it.

He spoke at the Machinists’ Union Hall in South Park, during the final public meeting on the official closure plan, now considered final – what’s happening before, during and after the closure of the deteriorating bridge, scheduled for 7 pm June 30th.

For the first time in the most recent series of public meetings about the impending bridge closure, elected officials appeared and spoke – first King County Executive Dow Constantine, who represented this area as a county councilmember before moving up to the top job last year, second State Sen. Joe McDermott, who doesn’t represent South Park in the Legislature, but is seeking to represent the area as its next county councilmember. Here’s our video of Constantine’s entire 8-minute speech:

And Sen. McDermott, whose remarks were much shorter, but drew a pointed challenge fairly quickly:

Aside from Constantine’s extensive recap of how we got to this point – past funding attempts, the defeat of the bridge-money-containing Roads and Transit ballot measure, etc. – their appearances, and much of the first two-thirds of the meeting, looked to the future: Will there really be money at some point for a new South Park Bridge (which is at least 3 years away, even if money were found today, those on hand were warned repeatedly)?

The most telling chart appeared at one point behind Taniguchi – a list of governmental entities that they hope will chip in to the $130 million cost of the bridge. The only two lines that were filled in, were the top line – the county hopes to chip in up to $40 million, if the County Council passes a forthcoming proposal to finance that sum through bonding – and the bottom line – up to $40 million that the county hopes to get by trying again for a federal grant, similar to the type of grant it failed to get last year (they’re seeking less money this time, but the feds also have a smaller pot from which to hand out grants).

Constantine was asked as his portion of the program wrapped up, “What can we do to help (make sure the money is found for a new bridge)?” The question came from Dagmar Cronn, president of the South Park Neighborhood Association.

His reply: More awareness-raising of the bridge closure isn’t needed – rather, he urged community members, “It’s a matter of telling (your) stories of hardship (living) without the bridge.” Target elected officials at all levels of government, he elaborated.

The suggestion to not be shy about “stories of hardship” echoed what those community members themselves had said at previous meetings – none attended by anyone so high-ranking, at least in the past three months as the inevitability of the bridge closure became widely known.

Four weeks ago, at the meeting about the draft version of the closure plan – which did change in spots before Tuesday night’s meeting – rage at “how did you let this happen?” predominated (WSB coverage here). At the coordinating agencies’ meeting two weeks ago, there was discussion (WSB coverage here) of how to avoid having this meeting go down that same road. The focus on future funding was discussed as one tactic for attempting that – and the relatively calm nature of this meeting suggests it worked.

There were moments of anger and frustration, such as a man who waved photos of exterior bridge deterioration and asked when it had last been maintained. That’s cosmetic damage, Taniguchi noted, countering that his staff has virtually “lived (at the bridge)” to keep its working parts together.

Support for Taniguchi’s declaration came from South Park activist Bill Pease, who spoke up: “It can’t be glued together, can’t be wired together … anyone who’s gone to the guts of the bridge knows it’s (falling apart). It’s not a maintenance problem; it was built poorly in the beginning. It’s not Dow’s fault, it’s not Harold’s fault, it’s not OUR fault. There’s nothing we can do about that – we need to start finding out whether we can get a new bridge.”

With that, Taniguchi launched into the explanation of where the $130 million for the new bridge might come from. The word “might” won’t work in that sentence for long, he warned – “Everyone wants to help … but when you get down to a tight economy, pledging money gets down to a lot of discussions and details … In order for this to work we need this chart filled out very confidently” before paperwork goes to the feds starting in July. In other words: They need cold, hard cash commitments.

“Where’s Boeing in all this?” asked an audience member. Taniguchi mentioned “property” contributions and “discussions” regarding “other means of support.” In response to another question, he said that planning tolls for a new South Park Bridge, and/or the current 1st Avenue South Bridge, wouldn’t help – “We need to solidify a grant package and say the money is there” – that was considered one of the biggest reasons the earlier $90+ million request to the feds failed, not enough support from other “partners.”

“This is a wonderfully challenging thing to pull together,” he said with a bit of a smile.

“What if we don’t get (the federal grant)?” came another question. “Then we have to regroup and figure out what we do from there,” was Taniguchi’s answer.

“So there’s no other plan?” the woman asked, with a more worried tone. (Short answer: No.)

Finally, it was time to move on to the closure plan itself, which you can see in its entirety here.

King County’s Paulette Norman briefly ran through details such as the outreach plan – which is in the closure plan, detailed day by day (jump to page 10, for example, to see what’s supposed to be happening today).

She and Jack Lattemann from Metro had the same theme regarding road and bus changes: Traffic patterns will be watched closely in the initial days and weeks after the June 30th bridge shutdown – and then, they may be tweaked.

They’ve already been tweaked since the May 11th meeting we covered, during which some changes in turn had been made to the preceding “draft closure plan” public meeting in late April. For example, we reported discussion during that meeting of a “roundabout” at the bridge end of 14th Avenue South, in hopes that (among other vehicles) buses could go to that side of 14th and then turn around – but that’s not happening; for the final reroutes of the three affected bus routes (60, 131, 134 – go to page 20 in the closure plan to read the specifics of the reroutes).

Lattemann said the reroutes will take effect 5 am on June 30th instead of holding off till the bridge actually goes out of service at 7 pm. And he mentioned that a pre-planned change to Route 60 is still in the works for October 2nd – running the bus to White Center on weekends as well as weekdays. Even sooner, Route 60 will stop at the Myers Way Park and Ride east of White Center on weekends as of the June “service change.”

How closely will county crews really monitor the traffic? one attendee wondered, suggesting, “I want them to go through the commute with us every few days, because they need to know what we go through.”

And what about roads that are already in bad condition, according to those who drive them each day? Sorry, no plans to repave 5th, 8th, Holden and Kenyon – which were specifically mentioned – said Norman, at least for now. However, she said the county is talking to the city about possibilities.

How about, it was suggested, having the city of Seattle take down the red-light camera at 14th/Cloverdale (map), originally intended mostly for bridge-bound light-runners? “It’s like a smack in the face,” one man suggested. He didn’t get an official answer.

The next piece of the puzzle: Keeping the closure of a key access route from leading to closure of South Park businesses. Kris Effertz from the city Office of Economic Development said that more than 20 businesses have been contacted so far, and that the message is: “Can we connect you with business consulting, other technical assistance … We’ve got access to large and small loans, can we work with you and business consultants that we have, to try to keep your business alive during this time?”

She also mentioned there’s “some money for promoting South Park (and) promoting events in the business district of South Park,” as well as talking about potential green space at the end of 14th when the bridge closes: “We want this to be a community space.”

That drew rueful chuckles from one corner of the crowd, and someone retorted, “Community space for the homeless,”

Then came another plug for the 6:30-8:30 pm June 9th meeting at South Park Community Center. And as he retook the mike, Taniguchi mentioned that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has convened department directors “on a weekly basis, to see what could be done about this … I’ve sat in on every one of those meetings.”

With a few words of hope, again regarding securing bridge-replacement funding – “it feels like the stars are aligned … this is the window of time to make this happen” — he wrapped up the meeting.

But a few minutes earlier, one longtime South Park advocate noted, “This is a historic occasion – we are closing a bridge that is the heart and soul of the community – we want to throw a wake. We want the city and county to pay for it – that won’t cost much. We have 30 days to do it. Can we?”

“We’ll look into it,” promised Taniguchi.

WHAT’S NEXT: As noted above, the closure plan has a detailed timeline. The city of Seattle’s meeting for businesses on June 9th is the next scheduled public meeting, aside from regularly scheduled South Park meetings (the SP Neighborhood Association, for example, usually meets on the second Tuesday, which would be June 8th). Before then, an unofficial meeting – promoted by these two, who were sign-waving and handing out flyers outside the union hall:

Their flyers, headed “SAVE SOUTH PARK!”, promote a meeting planned tonight (Wednesday) at 7, South Park Neighborhood Center, 8201 10th Avenue South, “organizing … to inform the community about the South Park Bridge issue and begin making demands to the Seattle government. These demands will focus on immediate funding to replace the bridge and emergency measures to protect against the consequences of the bridge closure.” Whether they muster a crowd, depends on whether residents liked what they heard at the official meeting Tuesday night – with the bridge closure now exactly five weeks away.

16 Replies to "5 weeks till South Park Bridge closure: "This is challenging""

  • South Park denizen May 26, 2010 (8:43 am)

    Executive Constantine hinted at the possibility of a direct bus route between South Park and the Tukwila light rail station. However, Jack Latteman, Senior Planner with Metro, later said no such plans are in the works, during one-on-one discussions.

    Again, I’d like Metro to consider straightening out the 132 to go to Tukwila International Boulevard Station, and have the southernmost portion of the 132/122 go to Airport Station, creating some spare bus service hours, and giving Normandy Park and Des Moines residents a direct connection to light rail.

    The portion of the 132 between Burien Transit Center and the Highline Medical Campus can be covered by extending the 139 along that route beyond Burien TC, and then having it go the extra mile to Tukwila International Boulevard Station, thereby giving southwest Burien residents a one-seat ride to light rail.

    Fold some of the 123 service hours into the 139 to provide more frequent neighborhood service, and there will still be some hours left over from eliminating the 123 express.

    With the coming of the RapidRide Line A, it is becoming more imperative to increase the number of neighborhoods that have a direct ride to Tukwila International Boulevard Station.

    It is also becoming more imperative that South Park transit riders be able to access new, closer destinations without crossing the ever-opening 1st Avenue Bridge.

  • South Park denizen May 26, 2010 (8:55 am)

    Point 2:

    I much appreciate the county’s willingness to install bike lines on the Cloverdale-to-Roxbury corridor.

    Before doing that, I would encourage the people involved in that project to walk the route. Only problem is: It can’t be done. The sidewalks disappear at the 509 bridge, and then don’t reappear until the Olsen-Meyer Park & Ride.

    Thank you for adding bike lanes (especially if it leads to people starting to obey the speed limit). But add the sidewalks, too, or hikers will be walking in the bike lane.

  • South Park denizen May 26, 2010 (9:14 am)

    Point 3:
    The City of Seattle will be having a community meeting on the city’s role in the bridge closing and replacement on June 9. (So far, the city has been mostly invisible in this effort.)
    The county is depending on Seattle and Tukwila to each pony up some money ahead of the TIGER grant application. We need the city councils to officially set aside a pot of money dedicated to the effort, or it ain’t going anywhere.

    Beyond that, most of the missing bike/pedestrian links identified by the hard work of the Cascade Bicycle Club are routes entirely within the city.

    I really like the new mayor of Seattle, and hope he shows up at this meeting. Sometimes, it feels like he is the only city elected official doing community outreach.

    I’d be glad to take him on a walking tour of the Highland Park missing link, the 1st Avenue Bridge missing link (since the foot/bike path lands in the middle of a junk yard), and the Cloverdale-to-Roxbury missing link. Bring some hiking boots you don’t mind getting a little muddy, and a police escort, as none of these routes are actually safe just to hike.

    During the tour, I can also show you the delapidated state of the 132 bus route (not how awful the routing is, mind you, but how the asphalt, where it exists, is crumbling).

    To complete the tour, I could show you the missing sidewalk/bike links on 8th Ave S and 14th Ave S to Boulevard Park. Be nimble, as you might end up having to jump into ditches to avoid oncoming traffic.

    The same invitation goes out to any Seattle City Councilmember. See what has become of the neighborhood you left King County to take care of.

    When the bridge is closed on June 30, South Park really will be a prison for those of us who don’t drive.

  • sophista-tiki May 26, 2010 (9:17 am)

    Watching the clip of Dow speaking actiually made me feel like there is hope and that SP isn’t just going to be written off. Whew, new bridge in the works.
    (The above comments Point 2). Are you talking about bike lanes being added to THE HILL OF DOOM?
    Completed sidewalks are a no brainer but seriously who has ever let a break in the sidewalk continuity prevent them from getting where they wanted to go. As for the speed limit, that whole area at the bottom of the hill is a speed limit contradiction. When you come across the First Ave S Bridge the speed limit jumps from 35 or 40 to 60 then back down to 35 in a very short space. To get over in the far right lane to go up the hill to White Center speeding is almost reuired to get into your lane. Its sucks and dangerous but thats been my experience every time. Might be a good place for a regular speed trap if real speed reduction is going to be achieved.

  • Rick May 26, 2010 (9:29 am)

    Bike lines (lanes?) from Cloverdale to Roxbury? That is a very BAD idea. ANYONE who drives that stretch (I do every day) knows how bad that would be. The crossover from Cloverdale to Roxbury would become a death zone. It’s already a mess during rush hour. With another 20,000 vehicles going through the area, ya, right, put a bunch of bikes in the way. That’ll just fix everything.
    If they can’t afford a new bridge, then they can’t afford the sidewalks either. Let’s get real about all this. It’s talk, Seattle just loves to talk, waste money, and then try to convince people they did everything they could…What a load.

  • Alan Puckett May 26, 2010 (9:42 am)

    Mayor McGinn and other leaders,

    We need your unequivocal support to secure funding for a replacement South Park Bridge. Previous adminstrations live in infamy for failing to do so. Please do not join them there. Now is the time to publicly and emphatically declare your intent to do whatever it takes to obtain the federal, state, and local funding needed to replace this vital piece of transportation infrastructure. The bridge may technically rest on King County and City of Tukwila land, but residents of the City of Seattle and the entire region will be drastically affected when the current bridge closes, and for as long as there is no replacement. We are citizens of your city, county, and state, and we need your help now.

    • WSB May 26, 2010 (11:06 am)

      FYI, as a followup, I have requested through the mayor’s communications director (I can’t get downtown in person today) an answer to the question of what has to happen before the mayor will decide whether the city will or will not commit $ to the new bridge – TR

  • slc May 26, 2010 (11:06 am)

    So am I understanding correctly that we might get more buses to the Olsen Way/Meyers Place P&R? Q. 2 – where are all the additional cars from South Park going to park??? That P&R only has 97 spaces and when gas went to $4 a few years ago, the P&R was full by 7:00 and the buses that didn’t go through S. Park (that only come every 35 minutes) were so full that it was dangerous. I really, really wish I would have bought a house in the suburbs. I’d have a bus every 10 minutes, gigantic park & rides and no bridge-closure ambush issues. I thought I was being responsible by buying a place as close to the city as I could afford, but having purchased in Top Hat (just East of White Center), I feel like it’s been nothing but bait and switch from the city of Seattle and others. When I bought – in 2007, the tunnel w/ an exit to downtown had been approved, the S. Park bridge closure hadn’t been made public, Metro selling off 1/3 of the P&R to Shad hadn’t been made public, Burien hadn’t yet annexed to 112th and with it, taken my King County Sheriff’s Deputies away, etc.

  • slc May 26, 2010 (11:09 am)

    And I agree, bike lanes from Cloverdale to Roxbury will definitely result in death and destruction. That whole interchange is treacherous and confusing as-is. How are you going to merge bikes with a freeway off-ramp with very little visibility???

  • South Park denizen May 26, 2010 (2:53 pm)

    If we just close the Roxbury to Cloverdale road-of-many-names to private vehicular traffic, that would save lots and lots of lives, and warm the cockles of my heart given the biker-bashing I’ve seen on these forums. We pedestrians and bicyclists are human beings, too. We pay taxes. Share the road, or lose the road.

  • Rick May 26, 2010 (3:18 pm)

    I don’t see any biker-bashing here at all. Just infastructure bashing. The entire area was not developed with bicycles in mind, that’s pretty obvious. This area is NOT walker/biker friendly. Should be, but it isn’t; simple fact. It barely supports the traffic in the area. Maybe, in time, with proper planning, it will be. You want walker/biker friendly now? Go north…where all the money seems to fall.
    When I moved to Top Hat (SLC – Hi neighbor!), the P&R was awesome. The bus arrivals were typical. It went from good to down right pathetic. I drive to work daily because I don’t have a choice anymore. There is no parking at the P&R after 7am. I feel the same as SLC. When I was a regular busser, we all would stand at the bus stop and monitor who was a Metro patron and who was parking there to go to the training facility and now the new senior housing. Metro’s answer – park somewhere else; we’ll monitor the bus routes and possibly make changes in the fall. “We’ll get you there…” HOW? WHEN?

  • White Center Gardener May 26, 2010 (4:13 pm)

    How about temporarily relocating the passenger boat ferry from Alki to South Park and letting people commute to downtown via the Duwamish? South Park needs the ferry more than Alki does.

    • WSB May 26, 2010 (4:38 pm)

      WCG, that was asked last night. No really good places to land and take off, was the reply.

  • White Center Gardener May 26, 2010 (4:56 pm)

    Really? The always have a water taxi there during the Duwamish Days

  • Verde June 1, 2010 (10:56 pm)

    re. SP folks using the Myers/Olson P&R – plenty of street parking a few blocks up on 4th Ave SW, if you’re catching the 131/4. However, what’s needed even more than P&R space is simply more buses to get the White Center/South Park folks around. The 113 runs very limited hours, as does the 134, and then the only thing we’re left with is the 131, which only runs once an hour. I WANT to take the bus, but often can’t due to the timing – I’m either an hour early or 45 minutes late, and if you miss one you have a long wait for another. The buses going back to the area from downtown after 5:30 are always packed, there’s not enough of them – one bus out of downtown servicing three major neighborhoods means f-u-l-l.

    All levels of our city/county/state government need to get on the same page and get some consistent, thoughtful, and sensible transit planning hashed out – bus, rail, bridge, etc – it all needs some logic and care. Otherwise, we’ll end up a collection of neighborhoods completely isolated from each other (more than we already are).

  • Brian June 15, 2010 (9:34 pm)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7xBXD-deS8
    I took my last motorcycle ride over the South Park Bridge today. Enjoy the ride video !

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