Waverly Residents Want Bridge Replaced

Waverly residents who attended a county hearing Wednesday criticized as “ridiculous” one man’s request that a crumbling bridge be saved as a historic landmark.

The residents, including members of the town council, support the county’s plan to tear down the 77-year-old concrete bridge when it is replaced with a new one.

“We don’t want the old bridge, don’t want any connection to it at all,” said Councilman Bud Wood.

No one is arguing that the new bridge should not be built.

The two-year $1.6 million project will start this year if hearing examiner Mike Dempsey grants a shoreline development permit. That permit was the topic of Wednesday’s hearing.

Dempsey did not issue a decision Wednesday.

Keith Martensen, a Waverly native who has homes both there and in Seattle, is urging that the old bridge be left standing next to the new one. He could not attend Wednesday’s hearing but wrote a letter stating his opinion.

Martensen wants the bridge preserved for pedestrians and bicyclists.

“The bridge in Waverly has historic value,” he wrote, adding that it was one of the first all-concrete bridges in the state.

“Similar arch-style bridges have been placed on the national historic register in Oregon.”

Waverly’s bridge is not on federal or state historic registries, said Teresa Brum, director of the Spokane city/county historic preservation office.

At Martensen’s request, state officials are considering listing the bridge as historic, Brum said. If that happens, the state probably would request a series of photographs documenting the bridge before it’s torn down.

“They (state officials) don’t have the funding to restore the bridge or purchase it, so that’s usually the action they take,” Brum said.

Far from Martensen’s sentimentalism, town resident Robert Tensfeld called the idea of leaving the bridge standing “ridiculous.” He said he fears children would fall from it into Latah Creek.

Waverly, with just 109 residents, is the third-smallest town in Washington, according to 1995 state estimates.

But its bridge is vital to farmers and residents of small towns throughout southeastern Spokane County, residents testified. Fifty-two people from throughout that corner of the county signed a petition supporting the bridge project.

Martensen also asked the county not to move a monument to Waverly men killed during World War I. The monument stands on county right-of-way near the bridge, and obstructs drivers’ views, engineers said.

Town council members want to move the the 1918 monument to a city park, where, they said, it would get better care. Other town residents testified in support of the idea.

“It’s not where people can see it and needs to be moved,” said Irwin Lundstrum, whose uncle and namesake is the first soldier listed on the monument.

, DataTimes