Spokane Considers Bridge Work With Major Renovation, Monroe Street Bridge Could Last Another 75 Years, Experts Say
With plans for a new bridge across the Spokane River dead, city officials are looking to rejuvenate an old one.
Crumbling concrete aside, the 90-year-old Monroe Street Bridge could last another 75 years with a major renovation, experts say. Studies show a refurbished fourlane bridge could handle projected traffic for the next 20 years - even without two more lanes or the abandoned Lincoln Street bridge project.
By fall, City Council members expect to hire an engineering firm to devise a rehabilitation plan for the Monroe Street Bridge, with the $18 million project likely to start in 2004.
Much of the structure would need to be replaced, with only the large arches and columns remaining. The Kirtland Cutter-designed pavilions decorated with buffalo skulls would be refurbished.
Once work starts, drivers would have to survive without one of Spokane’s most-traveled bridges for up to 18 months, said Roger Flint, assistant city manager for operations.
Traffic would be detoured onto bridges at Post and Maple during construction. After that, the Post Street Bridge likely would be replaced with a pedestrian bridge connecting the Centennial Trail, Flint said.
For now, crumbling concrete could endanger people below the Monroe Street Bridge, but there is no danger to traffic crossing it, Flint said.
The refurbishing plan comes six months after voters resoundingly approved a measure requiring a vote on any plans to build a new bridge across the river. While the initiative didn’t specifically mention the Lincoln Street bridge, council members agreed to kill the project earlier this year.
The latest studies raise questions about whether a Lincoln Street bridge ever was needed to ease traffic congestion, as bridge supporters argued.
A study by the engineering firm David Evans and Associates Inc. states that “The Monroe Street Bridge currently has, and is expected to continue having, the capacity necessary for acceptable operations given peak-hour demands.”
Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, who opposed the Lincoln Street bridge and drafted the bridge initiative, said she is puzzled by the way traffic numbers changed over time.
“Somehow they’ve discovered that in the year 2020 they can make do with four lanes on Monroe,” Rodgers said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if they’d discovered that nine or 10 years ago? They could have saved us (several million) dollars.”
Glenn Miles, manager of the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, said traffic numbers changed because plans have changed. In the 1980s, when the Lincoln Street bridge project originally was proposed, plans called for building a Lincoln-Monroe couplet to serve as the major route linking Interstate 90 to Francis.
Growth management planning has shifted the focus of where the county will grow, with urban boundaries limiting new developments. “You don’t see the same amount of projected growth as was expected in the ‘80s in a way that would come down Monroe Street,” Miles said.
He said the city’s focus on neighborhood councils gave residents more say into where traffic should go - and they don’t want it in front of their homes.
“You put all those factors together, and we see a different picture than what we saw 10-15 years ago,” Miles said.
While the Monroe Street bridge can handle more cars, traffic will continue to bog down during rush hour at the intersection on the bridge’s south end.
“The flow of traffic will never be good,” said Steve Shrope, an engineer with David Evans and Associates. “If you restrict the number of crossings across the river, you have to live with tougher traffic situations.”
Money to refurbish the Monroe Street Bridge likely would come from federal sources, Flint said. While the city is aiming to start the project in 2004, officials hope to come up with the money sooner.
Currently, city officials are negotiating with the state to determine how much of the nearly $6 million spent on the Lincoln Street bridge project needs to be repaid.