Candidates Back Away From Bridge Battle Majority Opt To Wait For Panel Recommendation Due After Election

The Lincoln Street bridge proposal is on the minds of many Spokane voters.

But they probably won’t know how the majority of City Council candidates stand on the issue until after the election.

Those candidates are waiting for a citizens committee to reconsider the controversial plan to replace the aging Post Street bridge with an arched, futuristic-looking structure.

Critics think the new bridge would destroy the view of the lower Spokane Falls. Proponents say the city will be sorry if it doesn’t build the bridge now to avoid future traffic jams.

Questions about the project pop up in nearly every election forum or debate. Residents raise the issue when candidates campaign door-to-door.

“It’s either (question) one, two or three,” Judith Gilmore said.

“It’s the number one question,” said incumbent Cherie Rodgers, the only current council member vocally opposed to the project. “I have not met anyone who thought it was a good idea.”

Mayor Jack Geraghty said he hears from a lot of people who favor the bridge. But, he said, his own support is on hold while he waits to hear from a reunited citizens committee charged with reviewing the project.

He’s not alone. While three candidates outspokenly oppose the bridge, four - including Geraghty - await the committee’s recommendation before they make a firm commitment.

“I have a very strong tendency to support what the committee comes up with,” candidate Rob Higgins said.

“I am so totally looking for the final pieces of information that cinch the decision one way or another,” said incumbent Phyllis Holmes, who’s running for re-election.

Only one candidate champions the project without reservation.

“I support the bridge,” Barbara Lampert said.

The committee isn’t likely to make its report until after the election.

Last month, the council asked members of the citizens committee that chose the bridge design four years ago to thoroughly review the project. They have

up to 60 days to decide whether the old reasons for building the bridge remain valid.

Even then, the council isn’t bound by their recommendation.

A previous council approved the bridge project in 1992. At least four members of the current council - or the one in place after Jan. 1 - would have to take action to reverse that decision. Meanwhile, design of the project is expected to be completed by February.

“In the absence of any action, then the project continues,” Holmes said.

John Talbott sat on the original committee but chose not to take part this time around, saying he might have to decide what to do with the information if he is elected mayor.

During a recent debate, Geraghty blasted Talbott for supporting the bridge while he served on the committee and opposing it now. Talbott fired back that the group was never given the option of rejecting the plan, only choosing a design.

Talbott has suggested putting the bridge to a public vote, an idea that would require the support of at least four council members.

A citizens petition drive wouldn’t do it, City Attorney Jim Sloane said. The bridge is long past the decision-making stage and into the implementation phase, which means it isn’t subject to a referendum, he said.

Several candidates - Talbott, Gilmore, Rodgers and Steve Thompson - say city engineers haven’t made a good case for building the bridge.

“There has been significant information that has come out in these last few months that really question the need for the bridge,” Gilmore said.

Much of that information has been gathered by Friends of the Falls - a grass-roots organization aiming to derail the project and turn the gorge area into a national monument.

Rick Hastings, the group’s founder, has a stack of charts and traffic modeling maps that he says prove traffic counts downtown are falling - along with carbon monoxide violations.

One document compiled by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council last year puts the intersection at Monroe and Spokane Falls 33rd on a list of the county’s 40 most congested spots. Another shows the county’s carbon monoxide violations dropping from a high of 403 in 1976 to two in 1996.

And still another predicts no congestion problems downtown in 2020 - even without a Lincoln Street bridge.

Jim Correll of CH2M Hill, the engineering firm designing the bridge, disputes some of the group’s information. Carbon monoxide violations have fallen dramatically, he said, but his documents show traffic in the Monroe-Lincoln corridor growing by 70 percent in the next 15 years.

“Something has to carry that,” Correll said.

While the intersection at Monroe and Spokane Falls isn’t terribly congested, easing north-south traffic flow through downtown is part of an overall plan to improve the city’s carbon monoxide problems, said Ron Edgar of the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority.

“If you can reduce overall congestion, make it easier for traffic to get in and out of downtown … you’ll get a little better traffic flow,” said Edgar, who is quick to say he’s neither fan nor critic of the bridge.

Plans call for building a four-lane, one-way bridge to align with Lincoln Street, carrying northbound traffic from downtown to Sharp Avenue. Eventually, the Monroe Street bridge would be one-way southbound.

If the couplet isn’t built, traffic will shift to other north-south streets, causing congestion problems in other neighborhoods, Edgar said.

The large sum of federal and state money available for the bridge - $27.43 million of the $36 million total project - also is an incentive for its construction, said Brad Blegen, a city engineer.

Gilmore and Thompson have suggested using at least some of that money for other projects, such as rebuilding the Post Street bridge or replacing the dilapidated deck on the Monroe Street bridge.

While local gas tax dollars ear-marked for the bridge could be used in that fashion, the federal and state money will be lost if the project is canceled.

“This money has been competed for, for this very project,” Blegen said. “If we didn’t do it, we’d have to go back and compete for it again with other projects.

“We couldn’t just take this money and use it for something else.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: These sidebars appeared with the story: UPCOMING This is the first of three articles about issues that concern voters in the upcoming city election. Coming this week: Tuesday: Downtown redevelopment. Wednesday: City Hall spending. Previous stories about the Lincoln Street bridge are available on The Spokesman-Review’s Web site, Virtually Northwest. Direct your browser to www.VirtuallyNW.com and click on Election Central.

BRIDGE VIEWS Here’s what candidates for mayor and the Spokane City Council say about the Lincoln Street bridge proposal: Jack Geraghty, mayoral candidate: Supports project but wants to hear from citizens committee reconsidering it. Council needs to know whether reasons committee supported building bridge 10 years ago still are valid. John Talbott, mayoral candidate: Opposes it and would like to see public vote on project. “There is no substantive, factual document that says we need that bridge. There’s all kinds of ecological reasons for not building the bridge.” Cherie Rodgers, Council Position 1: “I do not favor it at all. We don’t need it. We can’t justify it.” Barbara Lampert, Position 1: Supports project. Doesn’t think bridge will negatively impact gorge. Judith Gilmore, Position 2: Has serious questions about whether bridge is necessary. Hasn’t seen any updated information from city proving need. Wants council to reconsider. Rob Higgins, Position 2: Will support recommendation from citizens committee reviewing project. Phyllis Holmes, Position 3: Undecided about project and is waiting for citizens committee recommendation. Doesn’t have enough information to “cinch the decision one way or another.” Steve Thompson, Position 3: “No! We don’t need it. Nobody wants it.”