Bridge should be open by Halloween

Barring a mean trick, Spokane drivers will be able to cross the Monroe Street Bridge by Halloween.

The city is projecting an opening date of no later than Oct. 28 – about four months later than the planned June opening, but two months earlier than the contractor estimated just weeks ago.

That later date wasn’t acceptable, said Spokane Public Works and Utilities Director Roger Flint. He said the contractor, project engineers and city staff have been meeting for the past few weeks to shorten the repair time caused by unanticipated problems with the bridge’s south pier.

The bridge already has been closed for two years.

Instead of cutting the pier down to a broken spot and rebuilding it, crews will replace just the upper portion and seal a crack by injecting epoxy.

“While nothing is as good as totally brand-new construction, the engineers feel very comfortable that they can make it structurally sound,” Flint said.

The extra work will add $200,000 to the cost of the project, Flint said. That still keeps the roughly $20 million bridge reconstruction within budget.

The city did get one treat. A similar problem on the north side of the bridge revealed a hollow pier, but the south pier was recently found to be filled with concrete. That repair was likely completed in the 1930s.

Flint said he hopes that crews will be able to finish sooner than the end of Oct- ober, but he added that quality will not be sacrificed to save a few days of bridge closure.

“We want to get this done as inexpensively and quickly as we can, but we want to do it right,” he said.