King County requests $99 million in federal funding
to rebuild failing South Park Bridge

King County is making a final major push to secure critical funding for the costly replacement of the 78-year-old South Park Bridge over the Duwamish River. If construction funds to replace the bridge cannot be secured, the bridge will be closed in 2010 due to its extreme deterioration.

An application for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant was submitted this week to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The county and its project partners are requesting $99 million toward the $153 million replacement cost of the bridge. The grants will be awarded early next year.

“Partners such as the Port of Seattle, the Boeing Company, and city of Tukwila are joining King County in pursuing this critical grant because they understand what’s at stake,” said King County Executive Kurt Triplett. “The remaining life of the South Park Bridge can be counted in months instead of years. If money for a replacement isn’t found and the bridge is forced to close, hundreds of jobs could be lost and up to 20 percent of the merchants in South Park’s business district will suffer extreme economic hardship. Such an outcome would be devastating for the 53,000 people living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods just south of the bridge.”

The bridge is located on 14th/16 Avenue South, and borders the cities of Seattle and Tukwila along with neighborhoods in unincorporated King County.

"Earlier this year I traveled to Washington, D.C. to tell our Congressional delegation about how vital this bridge is to preserving  thousands of good paying jobs in construction, freight hauling, manufacturing and international trade,” King County Council Chair Dow Constantine said.  “This is exactly the type of critical project that President Obama envisioned when he developed the stimulus funding program.”

The South Park Bridge is a key transportation asset that serves the largest manufacturing/industrial centers in the Northwest, an international seaport and aviation hub.  It’s in an industrial area that supports an estimated 70,000 good-paying jobs and contributes to the overall economy of South Park and other economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the area. If the bridge is closed next year, all of its vehicle traffic must be rerouted to other river crossings. Diversion of the 20,000 vehicles, including 2,800 trucks that cross the South Park Bridge daily would impact other routes including State Route 99, State Route 509 and Interstate 5.

Studies of the South Park Bridge show that the condition of the span is severely deteriorated and was made worse during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake. There is widespread steel corrosion on the main spans, crumbling concrete piers, and an outdated electrical control system. The bridge has become increasingly difficult to maintain and repair, resulting in frequent bridge closures that disrupt both vehicle and marine traffic.

In 2002, King County inspectors gave the bridge a sufficiency rating of 6 out of a possible 100, per Federal Highway Administration criteria. This rating has since fallen to 4. The Minneapolis bridge that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145, had a rating of 50.

The crossing is used by approximately 20,000 vehicles a day, and has a moveable span that opens to accommodate large marine vessels on the river.

It is also one of the few Duwamish River crossings for residents of South Park, White Center, Boulevard Park and other lower-income neighborhoods that depend on the bridge for access to job centers on the east side of the river.

“We love being in South Park. It is affordable to emerging businesses like ours,” said one group of small business owners, who wrote a letter in support of the county’s application. “Without this bridge, many in South Park would be cut off. Please don’t leave South Park behind.”