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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Barker Road Bridge

Present day: The current Barker Road Bridge, completed in 2010, carries a lane of traffic in each direction, a median lane and generous bike lanes. Construction took two full years and cost overruns rose the final cost of the bridge to $11.2 million. The new bridge replaced the previous concrete bridge built in 1953. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Present day: The current Barker Road Bridge, completed in 2010, carries a lane of traffic in each direction, a median lane and generous bike lanes. Construction took two full years and cost overruns rose the final cost of the bridge to $11.2 million. The new bridge replaced the previous concrete bridge built in 1953. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

In 1892, young civil engineer Byron C. Riblet recommended that the Spokane Board of County Commissioners accept the bid from the San Francisco Bridge Company for a new steel bridge over the Spokane River at Barker Road. Riblet would become a renowned innovator in mining, railroads and other industries.

The road was named for early settler Jesse N. Barker, born in Kentucky in 1826. He had moved to Missouri and had crossed the country by ox cart to Oregon in 1852. He served with the Oregon militia in the Modoc War of 1872. He arrived in Spokane in 1880. He worked in real estate and mining and also served in Washington’s territorial legislature. He died in 1905.

More than 50 years later, state transportation planners called for bids on a new Barker Road Bridge built of concrete and steel and estimated to cost around $230,000, but the bid of Hagman Construction of Cashmere, Washington, came in at just under $180,000. They built the structure in about six months.

The new bridge was built next to the old one, which was then dismantled and sold to Chelan County. It was 478 feet long and 34 feet wide and opened April 24, 1953. Civic leaders, the naval supply depot color guard and local citizens strode across the new bridge together.

Spokane Valley traffic volume was growing and the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board gave $2.4 million to widen Barker Road in 2006.

The 1953 bridge closed in 2008 for construction of a new bridge on Barker. Detours sent drivers onto Sullivan Road and other routes.

River users asked that the canoe and kayak access point by the old bridge be preserved, prompting the engineers to shift it slightly to the west.

A $10 million federal grant paid for the project, but cost overruns and heavy snows hampered construction and stretched completion to two years. Dedicated in July 2010, the bridge was completed at 72 feet wide, with one lane in a each direction, a center divider lane, plus 6-foot-wide sidewalks and 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes. Final total cost was $11.2 million.