What should we do with the Post Street Bridge?
The Post Street Bridge is under the microscope, as we wrote about yesterday.
What to do with the aging bridge has been discussed for years at City Hall, but now the city has paid CH2M Hill to conduct a $385,000 study of the bridge to see what the best options are. Of course, a bridge is rarely ever just a bridge, and in this case the bridge also supports the city's main sewer line for much of the South Hill.
So, yeah, if that bridge and line broke, the falls would be quite an odorous sight and guaranteed to be on the front page.
Currently, the bridge is carries one-way, northbound traffic, and is the designated, downtown route of the Centennial Trail over the Spokane River. Some previous ideas for the bridge's future have included a pedestrian mall, which would host a farmers market in warmer months; an extension of Riverfront Park to the city-owned Bosch Lot; and, perhaps most unimaginatively, a complete rebuild allowing two-way traffic.
And let's not forget, in November the City Council recommended renaming the bridge after John Moyer, who died last year at the age of 92, was a local physician who delivered 7,500 babies over his 30-year career. He also served in the state Legislature as a Republican in the 1980s and ’90s.
Any thoughts on what the city should do with the Post Street Bridge? No cars, only bikes and pedestrians? Revamp and revert it to two-way street? Make it into a trampoline, or perhaps something to attach your tightrope to?