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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State May Close Riverside Bridge Popular Crossing No Longer Considered Safe

A suspension bridge at Riverside State Park may be closed because it no longer is considered safe for the thousands of hikers and bicyclists who use it.

The footbridge, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1941, “has far outlived its life expectancy,” said Jim Harris, acting regional manager for the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

An engineering firm, paid $100,000 to evaluate the bridge, says the towers that support its cables “don’t meet today’s codes,” Harris said.

Closing the bridge would be a blow to recreationalists and tourists. It is the only place to cross the Spokane River between Seven Mile Road and T.J. Meenach Bridge. There are about eight miles of river and five miles of Centennial Trail between those points.

Although it is not part of the Centennial Trail, it is used by thousands of people who leave their cars at the Bowl and Pitcher campsite, cross the river and scramble through the woods to the paved trail, said Gary Herron, park manager.

Others use the bridge to reach dirt trails on the western shore of the river, or simply to stare into the froth of the Bowl and Pitcher, a rapid that is popular with experienced kayakers and rafters.

Harris said state officials are waiting for the engineers’ final report before deciding whether to close the bridge. That report, from Exeltech Consulting Engineers in Olympia, probably will be available within two months, he said.

It may be possible to make repairs to keep the bridge open while the state is looking for money to reconstruct it, Harris said. If not, the crossing bridge could be closed for two years or longer.

Harris said he didn’t know what reconstruction would cost. But state parks planner Bill Fraser on Wednesday told the non-profit group Friends of the Centennial Trail that engineers have estimated the cost at $375,000.

In October, parks officials closed the Centennial Trail bridge over Deep Creek, a few miles north of the Bowl and Pitcher in Riverside State Park. That bridge’s wooden supports are rotting, and probably will cost $175,000 to repair, Fraser said.

One possible source of repair money for the suspension bridge is $480,000 the U.S. Forest Service gave the state in 1991 to build a new wooden bridge for the Centennial Trail, Fraser said. Trail supporters have spent the last five years trying to decide where to build that bridge, and still haven’t agreed on a site.

Board members for Friends of the Centennial Trail on Wednesday voted against diverting the bridge money. The advisory group doesn’t control the money, but its recommendations normally are followed by the state.

Some board members questioned why the bridges haven’t already been repaired.

“The state needed to be a little more fore-thinking,” said County Commissioner John Roskelley, a Friends board member.

Roskelley said he’s used the suspension bridge since he was 5 years old, and “I could see that it’s gone downhill.”

Harris said parks officials have noticed the same thing, and in recent years repeatedly asked lawmakers to fund an engineers’ study.

“It wasn’t until it got to the point where there was concern for the bridge and the public that it became a priority” with the Legislature, he said.

Harris said the study was expensive because engineers used technology similar to X-rays to look at the cables, footings and other parts.

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