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For sale by owner
Narrator Says:
It will soon be ‘out with the old and in with the new’ along Southeast Mt. Si road in North Bend.
The Mt. Si Bridge, which has spanned the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River for the past 52 years, will be replaced next year by a brand new structure.
When it’s replaced, King County will be looking for a new owner, and will primarily be looking to other public agencies that might be interested.
And here’s a look at what’s for sale.
Mt. Si bridge may look a little outdated now, but its design was very popular 93 years ago when it was erected.
King County Engineer Julia Turney Says:
This particular pin-connected bridge represents an evolution in bridge design where it started out with pins, went to pins and rivets, went to a full riveted bridges, and then finally to bolted bridges, these pins' designs made the bridge easy to go together for the unskilled labor force in the U.S. and so therefore made it easy to transport from place to place. This particular bridge actually started its life in 1914 over the White River between Buckley and Enumclaw, and was built by Pierce County, and in 1955 when the 410 bridge was built by WashDOT over the White River, this truss and its twin were available for reuse and so it moved up here to the middle fork Snoqualmie River, and set in this location.
Narrator Says:
The Mt. Si bridge is a steel Pratt truss.
It’s essentially held together by several of these pins, and it’s the last standing pin-connected bridge of its kind in King County’s bridge inventory.
The pins made the initial construction much easier, but now, almost 100 years later, they may make the dismantling of the bridge and reconstruction more difficult.
King County Engineer Tim Lane Says:
So I'm sitting here on the lower cord of this bridge, showing you the unique feature of this bridge, it's a pin-connected truss, and it has 36 pins, 16 up above and 20 down below, these pins down below are about 21 inches long, and about 4 inches in diameter, the whole secret to dismantling this bridge is slipping these pins out and dismantling the bridge piece by piece, sounds easy but we know it's pretty difficult.
Narrator Says:
The existing Mt. Si bridge measures 171 feet long and 20 feet wide.
The new structure will include sidewalks, and modernize the sole public access across the Snoqualmie to the ‘Little Si’ and ‘Mount Si’ trailheads.
Mt. Si is considered part of bridge building history in King County and is registered as a county historical landmark, having spanned the White and Snoqualmie rivers since 1914.
Its age is showing, with spots of rust and corrosion, but King County supervising engineer Tim Lane says the overall deterioration is not all that bad considering Mt. Si’s age, and that repair in some spots will be minimal.
King County Engineer Tim Lane Says:
It's obvious this bridge needs a paint job, it's not had a fresh coat for quite some time, but the good news is it's not in that bad of condition, these trusses have areas of spot corrosion, you can see them here on the lower cord and while the paint is flaking off there's really no significant section loss on these members and so in my opinion with a cleaning off of the old paint, and getting a fresh coat there'd be very minimal work required to get these members back in good shape, you can see the same on the upper cord, areas of spot corrosion, it's pretty consistent all the way through.
Narrator Says:
The new Mt. Si bridge will be finished in 2008 and when it is ..the old bridge will be ready for its new owner or surplused.
King County Engineer Julia Turney Says:
The Mt. Si Bridge will be replaced by a new bridge, and will be available for reuse at the end of summer 2008 early fall, King County will be picking the bridge up off its foundation and setting it aside and if a new owner is interested in taking the bridge on they'll need to be prepared at that point to come out, take the bridge apart, and be prepared to remove it from the area, a new owner would be responsible for dismantling the bridge, for any repairs that might need to be made, for replacements for parts, for transportation to a new location, and for putting the bridge back together, foundation, and any permitting that would be required for the structure, if the bridge remains in King County it would still be considered a King County landmark, and the new owner would have to work with the landmarks commission, if it's taken out of the county or out of the state, those conditions no longer apply.
Narrator Says:
The existing Mt. Si bridge will remain open to traffic until it’s removed in the late summer of 2008.
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