Op-Ed
Wed, 12/12/2007
South Park Bridge is a regional priority
By Dow Constantine
After working for months to ensure that replacement funding for the South Park Bridge was included in the recent Roads and Transit package, I was disappointed to see Proposition 1 fail at the ballot box. It is clear that replacing this critical transportation link will require a regional effort.
Where now to find funds to replace the South Park Bridge?
The South Park Bridge is a crumbling relic nearing the end of its life. The 76-year-old span, resting on footings sunk too shallow into the mud of the Duwamish, scored just four points on the Federal Highway Administration's 100-point sufficiency rating scale (the Alaskan Way Viaduct received eight points). Engineering studies show that the South Park Bridge is seven times more vulnerable to earthquake damage than the viaduct.
While the bridge lands on a tiny "sliver by the river" governed by King County, it is a regional facility serving thousands of daily trips that start or conclude in the cities of Seattle, Tukwila, SeaTac and beyond. Closing the bridge, as King County would likely have to do if no replacement funding is obtained by 2010, would compound the traffic woes on other important roadways. Some 20,000 vehicles use the bridge every day - trucks and cars that would then be forced onto alternate routes such as State Route 509. This diversion would more than double morning and evening commute delays at the north end of the nearby First Avenue South Bridge.
King County developed a replacement plan for the South Park Bridge, held a series of public meetings, and garnered community support for this proposal. Transportation planners carefully studied several options before choosing to build a new bascule-type drawbridge alongside the existing structure. Bridge design work is fully funded and we will be ready to start construction by 2010.
But the cost of a new bridge is daunting: an estimated $150 million. For comparison purposes, King County's entire annual roads construction budget is a little over $50 million.
We must quickly find new ways to meet key regional safety needs such as South Park Bridge replacement. Meanwhile, as our state and federal governments have retreated from their traditional funding duties, King County has been forced to step in to meet the health, safety, and transit needs of this region:
- An aging levee system, increasing major storms, and a fading federal commitment led me to join my colleagues on the King County Council in forming a countywide flood control district to repair critical infrastructure and protect people and property;
- Federal cuts in funding for mental health and chemical dependency treatment have helped make our jail the state's second-largest mental institution. We voted for a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax authorized by the state (under the leadership of Rep. Eileen Cody) to get folks who are suffering off the street, out of trouble, and into the treatment they need; and
- The state's abandonment of passenger ferry service and threatened closure of the Vashon Island-to-downtown passenger-only route meant transportation headaches for both Vashon and West Seattle. The Council accepted the state authority, conferred under the leadership of Rep. Joe McDermott, to create a countywide ferry district. This district will save and improve the state's Vashon-to-downtown route, keeping thousands of cars off of the Fauntleroy dock and West Seattle Bridge. It will also expand the very popular Elliott Bay Water Taxi, which carried 161,000 passengers during the just-completed half-year sailing season. And it will fund shuttle buses serving both destinations, as well as potential new routes benefiting frustrated commuters throughout King County.
Some people have asked why we can't use these funds to build a new South Park Bridge. Under state law, the funding authorized by the Legislature for each of these functions can be used only for the designated purpose - not for general government services such as road building.
A smaller regional transportation plan specifically focused on replacing imperiled bridges is clearly the most appropriate way to pay for a new South Park Bridge. I will be meeting soon with King County Executive Ron Sims, who opposed the Roads and Transit package, and with other regional leaders, to ensure that the South Park Bridge remains on the mind of every decision maker. This bridge is a vital lifeline for South Park, Georgetown, and the businesses and commuters throughout the entire SR 509 corridor.
And as I continue to work for the funding we need to build a new South Park Bridge, please let Executive Sims, Mayor Greg Nickels, the councils and mayors of all surrounding cities, and your state legislators know that you support them in seeking regional funding for this important project.
Dow Constantine is the Metro King County councilman for District 8 and may be contacted at 296.1008.