New bridge planned at Deep Creek

A patched-up timber bridge on Christensen Road spanning Deep Creek is being replaced in a $1 million project.

The bridge, built in 1958, was recently demolished. A structure made of modern materials will takes its place.

The old bridge was listed as “structurally deficient” in the National Bridge Inventory database, with a rating of 18 out of a possible 100.

Neil Carroll, Spokane County bridge engineer, said the old bridge suffered from extensive rot and its foundation was so deteriorated it posed an “unacceptable level of risk.”

“The bridge definitely needed to be replaced and we were fortunate to get funding for it,” Carroll said.

The bridge will mostly be paid for with federal funds, although some of the cost will come from the county’s road fund.

When construction is finished, the bridge will be wider, at 30 feet across. It will also be safer, with enough room for someone to ride a bicycle or walk across without being in the traffic lane. It will be raised to a greater height over the water, so that debris can float underneath more easily.

The approach roadway, Christensen Road, will be built up and the intersecting gravel road, Deep Creek Road, will be partially paved as part of the project.

Resident John Pierson has lived near the bridge since 1977 and said the reconstruction project is “music to our ears, because those boards they recently replaced weren’t doing the job. It was hard to slow down. Rough on cars. Too narrow. I’m delighted.”

West Company Inc., in Airway Heights, is building the new bridge. Carroll said of the project’s $1 million cost, “Failure in a bridge isn’t an option, you know? It’s kind of like an airplane – it’s just unacceptable to have it fail. Really, to me, $320 per square foot, for something that’s going to be there for 75 years, that’s a pretty good cost-benefit ratio.”