Closer to completion: South Park Bridge’s second leaf arrives

| South Park | Transportation | West Seattle news

Thanks to Scott Miller for the photo of the South Park Bridge‘s second drawspan leaf being lifted into place this afternoon. It’s been three weeks since the first one quietly arrived; this time, King County gave the community plenty of advance notice just in case anybody wanted to watch – and what a perfect sunny afternoon it was. The county says the bridge project remains on track to open next spring, which will be just under four years after its predecessor was closed for safety concerns. The new leaf will be maneuvered and bolted into place over the course of this weekend, as explained here, if you’re interested in a firsthand look (here’s a map).

WS Family October 4, 2013 (7:35 pm)

While you are watching the new drawspan, consider stopping for some awesome Mexican food in the next block. This bridge replacement project was initially supposed to take just two years, so the South Park community will have been cut off from vital economic support for twice that long at next spring’s completion. Four very long years. Do you think even a minor delay would have been tolerated if we were talking about the Magnolia Bridge instead of the South Park Bridge??

wscommuter October 5, 2013 (8:20 pm)

WS Family – you’re wrong. The project hasn’t been delayed because it is located in a lower income neighborhood. That kind of ignorant class-baiting is not appreciated.

There have been substantial problems with construction. These problems happened in the river and have nothing to do with money or socio-economic neighborhood statistics. You’re simply fabricating a story about what would be “tolerated” in a more affluent neighborhood.

WSB October 5, 2013 (8:37 pm)

Sorry, missed this earlier. Totally agree with the recommendation to go patronize South Park businesses! As for the delays, we broke the story in November of last year about the trouble to which WSC alludes:
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https://westseattleblog.com/2012/11/south-park-bridge-construction-delay-not-done-until-2014/
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Construction began in May 2011, almost a year after the bridge was closed – at which time (June 2010) there was no guarantee there would be money to replace it.
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https://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/south-park-bridge-celebration-the-party-begins/
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Definitely was a lot of controversy and fury before that, about the bridge being closed and livelihoods put in jeopardy without there at the time being a plan to replace it, though its deterioration had been known for years. One fiery meeting we covered:
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https://westseattleblog.com/2010/04/south-park-bridge-closure-meeting-have-you-learned-any-lessons/

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