King County submitted an application for a TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant to the U.S. Department of Transportation this week. The county and its project partners requested $99 million toward the $153 million needed to replace the 78-year-old South Park bridge over the Duwamish River. If funds can't be found, the bridge will be closed next year due to its extreme deterioration.
Bordering Seattle and Tukwila, the bridge is located on 14th and 16th avenues. The crossing is used by about 20,000 vehicles a day, and has a moveable span that opens to accommodate large marine vessels on the river. If the bridge is closed next year, all vehicle traffic must be rerouted to other routes such as SR 99, SR 509 and I-5.
The bridge is also one of the few Duwamish River crossings for residents of South Park, White Center, Boulevard Park and other lower-income neighborhoods that depend on the bridge for access to job centers on the east side of the river
"If money for a replacement isn’t found and the bridge is forced to close, hundreds of jobs could be lost and up to 20 percent of the merchants in South Park’s business district will suffer extreme economic hardship," King County Executive Kurt Triplett said in a press release. "Such an outcome would be devastating for the 53,000 people living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods just south of the bridge.”
King County inspectors gave the bridge a sufficiency rating of 6 out of a possible 100, per Federal Highway Administration criteria, in 2002. This rating has since fallen to 4. (The Minneapolis bridge that collapsed in 2007 had a rating of 50.)
Grants will be awarded next year.
