Bridges Of Bureaucracy Project Mandates Structures Be Replaced, Not Repaired

A wooden span used by just one family is among 10 Spokane County bridges slated for replacement in the next four years.

Three of the bridges on the $8.2 million list are used by 50 or fewer vehicles a day. Another is crossed 105 times in a typical day, according to county traffic counts.

Two other bridges are vital to the farm towns of Waverly and Latah. One, Argonne Road over the Spokane River, is used by 30,000 commuters every day.

The projects amount to the biggest flurry of bridge construction in recent history. Repairs on the county’s aging bridges are getting so costly that it’s cheaper in the long run to replace them, said county engineer Bill Johns.

County taxpayers cover 20 percent of the cost of replacing bridges and the federal government pays 80 percent. The federal money can only be used to replace bridges on a list approved by a state committee that doles out about $30 million a year. The money cannot be used for repairs.

County commissioners already have approved replacing three little-used bridges. Those projects, plus a bridge in Waverly not yet approved by commissioners, are scheduled this year.

Commissioner Phil Harris said he sees little choice but to approve each of the projects, no matter how sparse the traffic.

“If we don’t get the (federal) money for our people in our county, then someone else is going to get it,” he said.

Commissioner Kate McCaslin questions spending $230,000 to replace South Bradshaw Road bridge near Fairfield, a project proposed for the year 2000. The gravel road deadends a quarter mile from the low-slung wooden bridge, at the home of Bettie Roecks.

“Something is desperately wrong here,” said McCaslin, who thinks that if the federal government is going to give out money for road work, it ought to come with no strings attached. Then, the money could be used to fill potholes, build off-ramps, repair bridges or whatever commissioners decide is a priority.

“It’s not that I don’t want to serve rural areas, but … we have other pressing needs that serve thousands and thousands of people,” said McCaslin.

Before the bridge over Rock Creek is replaced, county engineers must prove there’s not a cheaper way to reach Roecks’ house, such as building a road across her fields. That’s been studied before and found unworkable, said Roecks, who has lived in the house since 1945.

Roecks, a Realtor, uses the bridge a couple of times a day. The mail carrier and other visitors use it. When her four children were young, the school bus used it.

“I couldn’t get out” without the bridge, Roecks said. “The county can’t leave people stranded, can they?” Commissioner John Roskelley said that since the county built the bridge, it has a moral obligation to keep it in good repair. Legally, he said, the county would be held responsible for damages if the bridge fails and someone is hurt.

“Sitting here, in this (commissioner’s) chair, it seems a bit ridiculous to spend that money,” he said. “But when you’re in (Roecks’) chair, it’s fairly important.”

Commissioners already approved replacing bridges on Scroggie Road in the southwest corner of the county, and Darknell and Morrow roads in the southeast corner. Work is scheduled for this year.

Those bridges, all on dirt roads, are used by 15, 30 and 105 cars a day, respectively, according to county records. By comparison, an average of 22 cars use Division Street at Francis Avenue in north Spokane every minute, day and night.

The bridge where Scroggie Road crosses the Union Pacific Railroad tracks is three miles and four cattle crossings from the nearest pavement at Fishtrap Lake.

The project, which engineers estimate will cost $362,000, is vital to at least three families, said resident Pat Jacobs. Without the bridge, the drive to Sprague, Wash., would be 21 miles rather than 14, and one of her neighbors couldn’t reach his cattle, Jacobs said.

Although the bridge is still usable, spike heads poke up in places, the wooden decking is rotting and the steel frame is rusted. Vehicles heavier than 19 tons are banned.

“Last week, we figured we used it nine times,” Jacobs said.

In Latah, steel reinforcement bars poke through holes where chunks of concrete have fallen from the Spring Valley Road bridge. It is scheduled for replacement in 1998.

In Waverly, concrete flakes from the Prairie View Road bridge, which also will be replaced next year.

The Argonne Road bridge in Millwood is the biggest of the projects on the county’s list.

The $3.5 million project, scheduled for 2000, won’t completely close the bridge, said county bridge engineer Neil Carroll.

But even restricting traffic from four lanes to two will cause tie-ups, just blocks from where another massive project - the Argonne Road underpass - caused congestion for 16 months ending in October.

Commissioners in November approved a $70,000 emergency project to shore up the bridge abutments. Engineers warned the problem will return unless the bridge is replaced.

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