KPLU Local News
(2010-05-26)
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The aging South Park Bridge in Seattle is set to close at the end of June 2010.
AP photo.
The South Park Bridge links industrial Seattle to the airport and shipping terminals. But it has to be torn down because engineers found the 80-year-old bridge to be unsafe.
King County Executive Dow Constantine has a plan to fund a new bridge, but he needs local leaders to sign on.
Under Constantine's plan, the county would chip in $40 million to build the new bridge. That's if he can convince the county council to approve a bond measure.
And it's less than a third of the project's total cost.
So he wants South Park residents to lean on their elected officials.
Dagmar Cronn, co-chair of the South Park Bridge Coalition, says she'll meet with anyone who might be able to help.
"It's a moment in time, we think, where we have an opportunity to put a funding package together to replace a piece of our transportation infrastructure that's so important to the region," she says.
Cronn hopes to convince the mayors of Seattle and Tukwila that it's worth dipping into their budgets to keep the arterial between State Route 99 and East Marginal Way South. Nearly 20,000 cars and trucks cross over it a day.
A lot of that traffic heads to the Port of Seattle and businesses, such as Boeing. So, Cronn says they should pitch in, too.
If enough local sources back Constantine's plan, he says it could win federal support.
The federal government rejected the county's first request for nearly $100 million dollars. The next deadline to apply for stimulus funds is in August.
Even if the county raises the money, South Park will likely be without a bridge for two to three years while a replacement is built.
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