A preliminary report from David Evans and Associates concludes that the bridge can be rehabilitated for approximately $80 million. That’s far less than the $135 million estimate for replacing the bridge, and not far from a 2004 estimate of $80 million for rehabilitation.

City officials gave the report Wednesday to state lawmakers, who are considering increasing the state’s contribution toward bridge rehabilitation to almost $40 million. That’s up from $26.5 million that originally was set aside to demolish the bridge and is available for rehabilitating it.

Mayor Bill Baarsma called the report “big news” and “good news.”

“The big news is that we don’t need to build a new bridge,” Baarsma said.

The state Department of Transportation closed the bridge in October, saying it was corroded and crumbling to an “unbelievable” extent and was no longer safe to use. At the time, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond held out little hope that the span could be fixed.

The new consultant’s report is good news, because city officials had feared that the bridge was too far gone to save and might require an expensive replacement. They also assumed that if the bridge could be rehabilitated, the cost would have risen far beyond the 2004 estimate because of skyrocketing construction materials prices.

One reason the cost is about the same as the earlier report is that the latest inspection was far more thorough, Lewis said. Engineers determined that the east approach to the bridge is in better shape than was believed and won’t cost as much to repair. That helped offset the rise in steel costs since the earlier report, Tacoma lobbyist Randy Lewis said. Construction would take four years, according to the preliminary report.

The full report from David Evans and Associates is expected around the middle of March, Lewis said.

The bridge opened to traffic in 1913 and was part of Highway 509 until 1997, when the state opened the new cable-stay bridge. State officials planned to demolish the bridge, but a grass-roots group rallied to save it.

City and state officials have discussed transferring ownership to the city, but officials haven’t agreed on terms.

Baarsma is optimistic that a solution will soon be found, noting that the state Department of Transportation supports the effort in Olympia to secure more funding for rehabilitating the bridge.

A bill introduced this year in the state Legislature to allow Tacoma to keep part of the state sales tax collected for bridge repair is dead.

Jason Hagey: 253-597-8542

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics