A Prognosis for the Murray Morgan Coming Soon? (23. October 2007, 10:45 by Derek Young) ~ How Do We Get To...
It must be the cool fall air, because the little birds are everywhere. The word on the street is that our fair city will be receiving the DOT’s recommendations on the future of the Murray Morgan bridge soon… and it isn’t good news. From what we hear, public safety is the primary consideration driving the report and that the future of the bridge may include… Cars? No. Pedestrians? No. Emergency vehicles? Nope. So…
There should be more news coming out this afternoon. We hope it’s better than what we’ve heard so far. We’ll let you know.
UPDATE – 3:25 pm
The newly appointed Washington State Secretary of Transportation, Paula Hammond, came to the Tacoma City Council Study Session today to inform the council that we need to close the Murray Morgan Bridge.
In the words of the DOT, the bridge has extensive section lost where the bridge members are not as strong as they used to be. It’s effectively rusting apart. Several rivets collapsed with a hit from a hammer. The bottom truss is “fraction critical. If one member fails, the whole thing fails.
“We will not compromise safety. We have to close it.” – Hammond
The City Council quickly pounced on the visiting DOT officials. The state wanted to focus on how we move forward. The city wanted to remind the state that THEY are the ones that got us here. Baarsma stated that there is a belief that the state’s plan from the beginning was to remove the bridge and that this was simply the next step in their plan.
“I am profoundly disappointed… But thank you for coming.” – Julie Anderson
After several pointed questions, it was stated that there is no plan to renew emergency access to the tideflats. Hammond offered to look into it over the next two days. The question of public safety went back and forth. The bridge needs to close, but how do we get access to the port in an emergency?
There was a lot of passion in the room. Many folks aren’t prepared to give up on the bridge. Many more folks aren’t willing to let the state forget that they put us here. Things are going to move quickly now.
The bridge is closed now.
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So what can we do? Stage a rally? Protest in Olympia? Petition to the council? Talk about feeling helpless.
1 | Posted by King of Spades | Oct 23, 03:44 PM
There was a lot of passion in the room. Many folks aren’t prepared to give up on the bridge. Many more folks aren’t willing to let the state forget that they put us here. Things are going to move quickly now.
Sad. Poor Tacoma.
OK so the city is mad because the DOT cut back on maintenance for the bridge and now it is in such a crappy condition that they need to take it down? And the city council is like: Oi! Thanks for nothing?
3 | Posted by RR Anderson | Oct 23, 03:53 PM
I don’t understand the attachment to this bridge. I find nothing asthetically pleasing about it. Sometimes you have to let go of obsolete structures. I love to see the state replace the bridge with something more modern that pays homage to the original but makes a statement about Tacoma’s willingness to move forward.
4 | Posted by Tacomite | Oct 23, 04:01 PM
i’m just thankful there is nothing flammable, explosive or any industrial workers that may need emergency evacuation on the other side of that obsolete bridge.
5 | Posted by RR Anderson | Oct 23, 04:07 PM
Does the community at large know that there is no bridge like this in the world – a midspan lift bridge built on an incline. Amazing for its time, beautiful in it’s industrial esthetic, and a big loss if we sanitize this city of its industrial roots.
6 | Posted by lance | Oct 23, 04:27 PM
You are right on Elliot. Paula is the best thing to happen to WSDOT in decades. If there is a solution to the MMB issue, it will happen because of Hammond
8 | Posted by Lee | Oct 23, 04:45 PM
Hmm, there are many other ways to access the tide flats…..this is not the only method…..so, is safety not an interest to people? How much money do you want to spend to keep a bridge open that doesn’t serve as many people as people think? Wouldn’t you rather put that money to use to benefit a greater population….?????
11 | Posted by Rich | Oct 23, 07:06 PM
I like the bridge. But it’s one of too many structures around here that have just not been maintained.
That’s my interpretation, and it may be that the bridge
components have just become weathered, worn-out, and fatigued from usage.
In either case, the bridge is obsolete.
Could a replica replace it? Sure.
Could a replica replace it and look distressed like the current one? Sure.
The whole cityscape could be replicated in distressed looking fashion.
Of course then the purists will start a protest and petition campaign and try to convince everyone that a new distressed looking bridge just lacks the dignity of the original.
Alright, how about this?
Take a little roadtrip to Fort Nisqually. Walk around within its walls and tour the various buildings including the blockhouses. The whole place is a replica.
So my best guess is that any structure could be replicated.
It’s just a matter of choice and will.
12 | Posted by Mofo from the Hood | Oct 23, 08:50 PM
Just Keep in mind that any new bridge that would replace this span would cost far more than to complete rehabilitate the current structure.
13 | Posted by The Gulag | Oct 23, 08:55 PM
I say we take it down and build some sort of a stair case leading down to dock st.
14 | Posted by Eric | Oct 23, 10:17 PM
Crossing to the tideflats is important, but so is accessing Dock Street. We’ve discussed this before, but this is one of only a couple of pedestrian connection points between downtown and the Foss waterway. We need to increase the downtown’s connection with the water. The water is what this City is built on.
16 | Posted by DavidS | Oct 24, 10:09 AM
I was trying to figure out why 21st and Pacific was so busy today. Now it makes sense.
I do think it is funny that the Volcano Escape Route for people working in the port will now be:
Flee towards the mountain, take the first exit.
17 | Posted by Marty | Oct 24, 03:04 PM
Good call, Marty. Although Option B is just as good.
Find shoreline. Plug nose. Jump.
18 | Posted by Erik Hanberg | Oct 24, 03:20 PM
How about a solution outside the current box?
Why not take the available bridge money and do a number of useful things?
1. Construct a pedestrian bridge across the Foss Waterway to connect downtown and the west side.
2. Take the bridge tender’s house (where Morgan worked) down, renovate it as a museum for both Murray Morgan and the 11th St. Bridge.
3. Use the extra money from construction of the pedestrian bridge and the tender’s house to establish a foundation for upkeep, education, etc.
4. Put the Tacoma Historical Society in charge instead of setting up another organization.
19 | Posted by L Stranger | Oct 24, 03:26 PM
No way that either of the best two options will occur:
1) renovation of the bridge
2) replacement of the bridge.
I would gladly be wrong, but the difference between the cost of either option and available funds is an unspannable chasm.
I work on the east side of the Foss, very close to the bridge. It is the way I go to work. Today I decided to time my “commute” from Proctor, around 509 to Portland and back toward 11th. It took me five minutes more than usual. For emergency vehicles taking people to the St. Joe’s E-room FROM the port this is the quickest route anyway, much faster than going across the MMB and going through town to either hospital. Depending on where those emergency response vehicles are coming, the 509 route could be just as fast.
I realize that in an emergency every minute makes a difference, but we are talking about a very small differential in response time. One option would be to staff-up the fire station over here to provide at least a partial immediate emergency response crew.
I WILL miss the MMB. It’s cool in an industrial-chic kinda way, very evocative of our community past. I wonder if there is a way to shore it up so it is at least safe enough to keep as a relic.
20 | Posted by Squid | Oct 24, 04:01 PM
When the bridge is gone we’ll miss it very much. As Lance alluded to, it’s one of a kind, and a shame that the the state and city punted this football so long that it deflated. No-one wants to spend the money, or good will on this created albatross, not when there’s a heavy rail crossing coming up on Pacific to deal with.
So lets floor it, forget the past, the beautiful engineering, and think back to the days when Pacific Ave. was lined with beautiful brick buildings.
Before we do this though, I would ask anyone to walk across it, take a photo of downtown, then walk across the 509 bridge and do the same.
Not quite the same angle, in terms of esthetics, or feeling, or scale.
21 | Posted by johnschoppert | Oct 24, 10:05 PM
I say we … build some sort of a stair case leading down to dock st.
Good idea.
Downtown Tacoma needs some sort of large open (grand?) inviting set of stairs down to the water.
Right by the center of downtown, I think it would work well and get alot of use.
One of the biggest problems we have downtown is how to get to the water easily.
We have the Bridge of Glass by UWT but we need another one in north downtown. The walkway by the MMB and the Esplande are narrow, dark and scary and few use them.
here’s an idea, part of the childrens museum quest was an option of making from the MMB south to Jonnys a park…well, take the bridge down, and build a new decending stair/park the ends up in the new park below…….have it large enough to have park benches along the decent and trees, pots, etc, grass, etc…make it a grand decending park into a waterfront park…..you could have a hot dog vender on it, an espresso vender, etc…it would be an attraction to invite people in nice weather to eat lunch there etc………people should look at this as a great opportunity to connect the foss to downtown…….it could be a huge park starting at A street and going accross the freeway/tracks, and decending……….does anyone see what I’m thinking??? ….. at the highest point looking at the water, you could have some of those telescopes to look at the view of the bay or mountains or the port…….you could have an outdoor place for concerts in the summer time….imagine with a nice summer evening listening to some jazz sipping a glass of wine enjoying the view of the sunset on Mt Rainier…..
23 | Posted by Rich | Oct 25, 04:28 PM
Could someone explicate the rationale of how the state, as opposed to the city, is responsible for the condition of the bridge? My own recollection is that the rationale for the new 509 bridge across the Foss at 21st street was supposed to replace the 11th Street bridge. And speaking of missed opportunities, the 509 bridge should never have been constructed wihtout a pedestrian step down to the far side of the Foss Waterway.
24 | Posted by David Nicandri | Oct 25, 04:36 PM
This is kind of a cheap fix to move people from north downtown to the flats but it might be a tourist draw also: Ski Lifts. A couple or more. And retrofit some of them with gondola buckets like the system in Spokane. Oh yeah… and maybe retrofit the hillside with those downtown escalades.
25 | Posted by Mofo from the Hood | Oct 25, 06:25 PM
David, even though I was required to explicate Absalom, Absalom (unfathomable, unfathomable) in college, I could not do so on the issue you bring up.
Oh, and if you are going to go off and start listing all the things where we as a community have missed opportunities, that will be a very long list indeed.
26 | Posted by Squid | Oct 26, 08:13 AM
Wait, I got it. Lets plant grass on it and the Childrens museum will think they have found the perfect and safest place for their new building.
Now that visibility!
27 | Posted by Eric | Oct 26, 11:21 AM
David,
OK, the serious explication of this is that while the rest of the old 509 was turned back over to the City, the MMB stayed in WSDOT ownership. The reason for this is because the Foss is a “navigable waterway” and the State is obligated to own, operate, and maintain all bridges that span such waters.
Now I have to get back to my Faulkner.
28 | Posted by Squid | Oct 26, 01:57 PM
Just to show what folks would be missing out on, I took some Murray Morgan Bridge photos at lunch today
29 | Posted by RR Anderson | Oct 26, 02:57 PM
Someone mentioned “dignity” as though the bridge were a living thing. OK, in that same vein, how “dignified” is now?
“Mofo for Mayor”
30 | Posted by sultans007 | Oct 26, 04:08 PM
Check this out:
Proposition No. 1 would apparently fix one of Seattle’s failing Bridges:
Failing South Park Bridge part of Proposition 1
By Susan Gilmore Seattle Times staff reporter
Locals call it the “sliver by the river.” It’s a rickety, orphaned bridge crossing the Duwamish River — its fate now hanging on the outcome of the multibillion-dollar roads and transit ballot measure.
At 77 years old, the dilapidated South Park Bridge would be replaced if Proposition 1 were to pass. If the measure fails, King County may close it by 2010 or sooner, with traffic shifting over to the already congested First Avenue South Bridge.
The bridge money is a fraction of the $38 billion that would be raised over the next 20 years by Proposition 1. The increase in car-tab and sales taxes would pay for highway improvements from Pierce County to Everett and build 50 miles of light rail to Snohomish County, the Eastside and Tacoma.
*Despite its shortcomings, the South Park Bridge is a vital link between East Marginal Way South and Highway 99,* in the city’s Duwamish industrial area. The bridge is equally important to residents of South Park, an ethnically diverse, blue-collar community, and to other South Seattle neighborhoods, as well, including White Center, Boulevard Park and Georgetown.
Hmmmmmmmm.
Yeah, well, as far as I can see it, Prop 1 doesn’t do right by Pierce Co any way you look at it. So I’m not shocked.
32 | Posted by Erik S | Nov 3, 10:08 AM
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