More money for the South Park Bridge

| South Park | Transportation | West Seattle news

(Photo courtesy Paul Dieter – showing Langdon Cook, who writes Fat of the Land, pulling in pink salmon)
According to King County Councilmember Jan Drago‘s office, ~~a state commission~~ the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board has just committed another $10 million to the new South Park Bridge – meaning $80 million of the $130 million needed. 5:20 PM UPDATE: More details now in an official county news release:

King County Executive Dow Constantine and Metropolitan King County
Councilmember Jan Drago today thanked the state Transportation
Improvement Board (TIB) for its motion at this morning’s board meeting
approving a $10 million contribution toward replacement of the South
Park Bridge.

“I am delighted with this latest piece of good news,” said Executive
Constantine. “This brings us another step closer to replacing the South
Park Bridge. This award acknowledges the impressive partnership we have
assembled, which includes community leaders, local businesses, King
County, the state of Washington, the City of Seattle, the Port of
Seattle and the Puget Sound Regional Council.”

“I thank Governor Gregoire, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond and
the TIB for their continued support of this vital transportation
lifeline,” added Constantine. “This latest investment gives us an even
stronger hand as we make the final push to secure all funding needed to
build a new South Park Bridge.”

“This is very exciting,” said Councilmember Drago, who represents the
South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods. “Support for the bridge from
partners at every level just keeps rolling in!”

Both officials commended the residents of South Park for their tireless
work over the past several weeks in support of bridge funding. Earlier
this week, King County, the state of Washington, the city of Seattle and
community members stood together as the Governor announced a $20 million
pledge from the state.

The Transportation Improvement Board plays a key role in providing state
grants to support local transportation projects. Today’s contribution
now brings the total funding package for the South Park Bridge to $80
million, thanks to a stakeholder partnership led by the County
Executive.

dsa June 25, 2010 (5:23 pm)

Good for them.
Tukwila where are you?

Eddie June 25, 2010 (6:11 pm)

Nice picture. Note that “PFD” stands for Personal Floatation Device (life jacket) – one of which is not seen worn or evident in the picture. Bad idea.

Neal Chism June 25, 2010 (8:08 pm)

I have to say that I am jealous of Mr. Cook’s rafting hardware. Looking at this raft and him making a tough job of bringing in a pink salmon look easy, a thought comes to me. I suggest we investigate a ferry boat option, or one based on floating rafts. While we are busy demolishing the old bridge, bring in a military replacement structure to keep the economy going in South Park. It is not that big of a river.

We were able to cordon off just about the entire shoreline of the green river up to Auburn with temporary military structures in a handful of months, why can’t we get another river level bridge going quickly. Open it up for large vessels and limit the traffic to car use only?

Beats having no bridge for a year or more and we do have other floating bridges in the area. What’s one more short one?

Neal Chism

Rod Nelson June 25, 2010 (8:40 pm)

I am not so sure a floating bridge on a river would be such a good idea. The floating bridges in our neck of the woods are built on lakes or salt water, not rivers.

I totally agree that there could be a stop-gap measure, perhaps using the old bridge with severe weight limitations, and perhaps beefing up the weakest links, while a new bridge is designed and built.

I will be the first to admit that I am not, nor will ever pretend to be, an engineer.

chilly June 25, 2010 (9:12 pm)

As all of these politicians pat each other on the back for finally coughing up the money for this project, one has to ask- where were you people 3-4-5 even 10 years ago when this should have been dealt with? Ron Sims, Greg Nickels and even the beloved Dow Constantine and his fellow County Councilmembers all could have addressed this, but it took the actual closing of the bridge to spur anyone into action.
I’m glad, no, ecstatic it’s finally getting funding, just can’t believe how badly it’s been handled by our local governments.

Neal Chism June 25, 2010 (9:30 pm)

My father who is gone now, a member of the greatest generation, was granted the pleasure of walking across most of Europe in 1944-1945. Most all of the bridges he crossed were temporary in nature and over more challenging rivers, built sometimes in hours, not days or months.

I think we could have one running in a short time if you had the Gov. send a few twitters in the right direction to our military folk.
Call it an economic crisis for the area and bring on the Kakis. If the Army can move heavy tanks across their bridges, panel vans and cars won’t be an issue.

Really, this river is less than a thousand feet across with predictable currents governed by the Army Corp. of Engrs. by a big valve up at the Hanson dam.

I say build it and they will cross.

If not, Mr. Cook and I can start a rapid response inflatable ferry service on our own. Have your Orca cards ready.

(There will probably be enough crane barges and heavy equipment in the river taking apart the old bridge that we could drive across those things anyway!

I’m just say’n.

Keith June 26, 2010 (9:58 am)

I hope for his own health and safety that he’s not going to eat that fish.

Neal Chism June 26, 2010 (10:41 am)

More on a temporary floating bridge at 14th street.

Here is what you can do Gov. Gregoire. Go to the Wa. State Ferry system and get the plans for a two lane car loading ramp that can accommodate the 14 foot tides we have on the Sound (and the Duwamish Waterway). Construct one car ramp on each side of the river that leads to a barge anchored one on each side of the river.
The design work is done for these ramps already. Then anchor enough barges side by side to close down the river with a gap of say 50 feet, and cross the remaining gap with a box structure bridge span. Add some decking on the barges for the roadway surface.
Open the center span by using a Manson or General Construction crane barge that is kept on station. This allows for two lanes of traffic most of the time, and lets the big yachts from Delta Marine and the little boats from Duwamish and South Park marinas to come and go. Set the hours of bridge openings to a fixed schedule. Most of the equipment is sitting up at river mile one next to Kellogg Island right now idle.

Neal Chism