Building A Bridge To New Bloomsday Course

Sat., Feb. 15, 1997

By Alison Boggs alisonb@spokesman.com (509) 459-5314

Two downtown construction projects soon could re-route Spokane’s favorite road race.

“I want people to be aware that everything will be the same this year,” said Karen Heaps, race coordinator for Bloomsday. “But it’ll be a nostalgic year. Everyone will be thinking, ‘New course next year.”’

The Lincoln Street bridge project eventually will call for the destruction of the Post Street Bridge, which Bloomsday runners and walkers cross on their way to the finish line.

The redevelopment of River Park Square requires that Post Street be vacated between Spokane Falls Boulevard and Main. Bloomies proceed through chutes down that section of Post after completing the race.

Bloomsday officials already are looking for possible new routes across the finish line for the 1998 race.

“We’re looking at ways of changing it a bit that still accommodate 60,000 people,” Heaps said.

Due to construction on the River Park Square project, race officials know they won’t be able to use Post Street for the chutes in 1998, Heaps said. That’s not a big problem, she said, because runners can be re-routed east on Spokane Falls Boulevard after they cross the bridge.

The only problem that creates, she said, is security.

“We’ll have to secure the park because we can’t have people jumping in and trying to get their shirts without running,” Heaps said.

Next year could cause a bigger problem, she said. There likely will be one year when the Post Street Bridge has been demolished, but the Lincoln Street Bridge is not complete yet, said Pete Fortin, deputy city manager.

In that case, Heaps said, runners would have to cross the Monroe Street Bridge to the finish line.

“Hopefully, when the Lincoln Street Bridge goes up, we’ll have that as a straight shot and finish by the library, but that’s a few years down the road,” Heaps said.

Heaps commended both the city of Spokane and the developers of River Park Square for working with race organizers to ensure a smooth re-routing of the course.

“I’m all for revitalizing downtown,” Heaps said. “But my concern all along has been our course.”

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