Celebrating (and walking on) the new South Park Bridge, report #1

(GALLERY ON THESOUTHPARKNEWS.COM: See it here. And report #2 is in the works for WSB)

4:43 PM: The new South Park Bridge is officially open – if you’re on foot (vehicle traffic won’t be permitted until tomorrow morning at 6 am)!

This followed an epic dedication ceremony:

We have it all on video and will have it in a separate story later (lots of photos too, of course). Most importantly, the street party is scheduled to run until about 9 pm, so you have time to get here, walk on the bridge, enjoy the Lucha Libre masked wrestling that starts around 6 pm …

Earlier:

2:05 PM NOTE: We’re heading back to SP for the heart of the party, but we visited in the noon hour and are already building a gallery on The South Park News.

Scroll down here on WSB, meantime, for helpful advance info if you’re planning to go. And watch the WSB Instagram feed between official updates.

And earlier still:
EARLIER, 10:57 AM: Few planned activities/events on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar today – the city’s biggest event is downtown, the Pride Parade, starting shortly (11 am). But in the “almost West Seattle” category, our neighbors in South Park are celebrating the new bridge today, on the eve of its official opening tomorrow, exactly 4 years after the old one was taken out of service.

(Added: WSB photo taken after today’s bridge party started at noon)
So here’s what you need to know if you’re planning on, or thinking about, going to the party. First, a map (the party’s on the south side of the bridge, on 14th Avenue South)! Now, today’s schedule, from the King County website:

12:00 – 3:00 p.m. — Street party: music & performances, info booths, self-guided tours of the bridge’s south tower, food & drink

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. — Dedication ceremony with elected officials & community leaders; fireworks

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. — Parade [you can walk on the bridge!]

6:00 – 9:00 p.m. — Lucha Libre; street party continues

Elected officials announced so far for the 3 pm event include U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, County Executive Dow Constantine, Mayor Ed Murray, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott. Info about street closures, parking, and bus changes during today’s party is at the bottom of this page. We’ll be covering the events here and at TheSouthParkNews.com. If you’re just waiting for the chance to use that route across the Duwamish again, take note that the new bridge will NOT be open for regular use until 6 am tomorrow (Monday).

P.S. Browse our photo galleries previewing the new bridge – looking at its exterior (including the new raingarden in the footprint of the old bridge); peeking inside during a behind-the-scenes media tour.

7 Replies to "Celebrating (and walking on) the new South Park Bridge, report #1"

  • K June 29, 2014 (11:20 am)

    Can we walk on it before the parade?? Thinking the kids might not last that long…

    • WSB June 29, 2014 (11:38 am)

      K- check back here in a bit. I’m planning to head over for a quick assessment in the early going, before we go over in a few hours for the duration of major coverage, mostly because I had that question too! “Self-guided tours of the south tower” would seem to be pretty much impossible without walking on at least part of the bridge, since that tower is toward the top of the incline, but that might mean they’re just opening the path … will see within half an hour and will add to this story! – TR

      • WSB June 29, 2014 (12:02 pm)

        Addendum, we’re just leaving now. But we’ll update as soon as we get there. Being on the south side of WS, we’re not far.

        • WSB June 29, 2014 (12:33 pm)

          Here now. You can walk the ped path to south tower but bridge deck closed till 4 ish. Pics on our social media feeds until we get back.

  • Bradley June 29, 2014 (11:24 am)

    It’s been a long 4 years. I can’t wait to drive over that new one. My dog and I stood on the old one with hundreds of people just minutes before it closed for demo/rebuilding. It was cool to see the old busses and cars that were brought to the event that day.

  • DTK June 29, 2014 (6:41 pm)

    That’s erect!

  • sophista-tiki June 30, 2014 (8:31 am)

    tears of joy.

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