This Pierce County bridge needs replacing. Don’t look for Trump or Congress to help
When the West Seattle Bridge was suddenly closed in March after inspectors found accelerated cracking, the 36-year-old span stood as a prominent example of America’s failing infrastructure.
It didn’t go unnoticed by public officials in the South Sound. “I feel bad for West Seattle,” Pierce County Council member Derek Young, D-Gig Harbor, told us in an email. “It also was alarming to find out I’m older than a bridge that’s fallen into such disrepair.”
Young knows very well that his saltwater-dominated district has much older bridges with their own unique problems -- chiefly, the Fox Island Bridge and the Purdy Spit bridge, which connects the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas.
These and hundreds of other ailing Puget Sound bridges underscore the need for public infrastructure funding -- but also the limits of federal investment -- at a time when talk of a big “Rebuilding America” plan is percolating again in the Other Washington.
Of the 212 bridges inspected and inventoried by Pierce County, the Fox Island Bridge is the biggest riddle. It’s the county’s poorest-rated bridge, but it would cost $127 million to replace; it serves fewer than 4,000 people; and it lacks the commercial impact of, say, the Puyallup River Bridge and others connecting to the Port of Tacoma.
County engineer Brian Stacy calls it “the elephant in the room.”
Replacing or doing a major retrofit of the bridge can’t be put off forever, and Fox Islanders are overdue for a discussion on how to pay for it. Looking to Uncle Sam as some kind of savior would be naive .
In the last several days, President Trump and congressional leaders have floated plans to rebuild infrastructure while reviving the pandemic-battered economy. Since the earliest days of his presidency, Trump has promised to build “gleaming new roads, bridges, tunnels and airports;” now he’s proposing to spend at least $1 trillion.
It couldn’t come at a better time. A Penn Wharton analysis says Trump’s plan could create one million jobs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it makes sense to “go big” when interest rates are so low. We certainly hope the usual partisan divisions can be bridged long enough to pass an infrastructure package.
But big-budget residential projects aren’t likely to make the cut. Funding criteria tend to reward economic-catalyst projects -- and politicians like to see short turnarounds and ribbon-cutting ceremonies before the next election.
The Fox Island Bridge has the lowest sufficiency rating of any Pierce County bridge, by far; on a scale of 100, it gets a 7.56. It’s labeled both structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. Built in 1954, it’s not nearly the county’s oldest bridge, but at 1,950 feet, it’s the longest.
An underwater inspection in 2013 found holes up to several feet deep in the concrete footings. The bridge was added to the county’s replacement list at that time.
But seven years later, Fox Islanders are no closer to getting a new bridge. A recent consultant study lays out several funding scenarios, all challenging. The least onerous option for residents would combine county, state and federal grants, higher property taxes on islanders and bridge tolls starting at $4.
A likely dealbreaker: It’s predicated on a $1 million annual county subsidy for 30 years. Without it, tolls would start at $6.
The study even explored replacing the bridge with ferry service from Gig Harbor. But capital costs would be nearly twice that of bridge replacement, and ferry riders would pay an average $24 roundtrip.
These are difficult but necessary discussions for neighbors to have. The county should host a forum on the consultant’s report this summer, even if coronavirus prevents another overflow crowd at Nichols Community Center.
As Young points out, shortchanging public infrastructure “is just bad for our kids and grandkids down the road.” That’s as true for local communities as it is for the federal government.
To be clear, county officials don’t believe the Fox Island Bridge is at risk of imminent disaster. Its low rating derives partly from factors like narrow lanes and load restrictions.
Then again, West Seattle residents weren’t expecting a shutdown, either. They can testify how dependent Puget Sounders are on their bridges. And they don’t live on an island with only one way on or off.