Does South Park need a bridge? | Transportation

For years, community members in South Park have been fighting to replace the South Park Bridge.

It was a fight that seemingly no South Park resident questioned.

But today, there is a hushed conversation between community members who are asking “Is this really the right thing to do?”

The answer "no" is not a popular opinion to hold. While working on this story I asked many residents to talk to me about it with at least half dozen refusing. Even those that would talk initially asked that their identities be concealed. Why?

“Cause its freakin’ scary,” said Lora Suggs, a homeowner in South Park, “You’re saying something that’s very unpopular. There’s been a lot of people who haven’t spoken up.”

Suggs has worked side by side with neighborhood leaders for the last 7 years in support of the replacement bridge. But given what the neighborhood feels like now, she says she now wants to make sure building a new bridge is still the right thing to do for the community.

“I’m distressed by the feeling that its sort of sacrilege to say anything but ‘We need a new bridge,’” said Suggs.  “I fear it dividing us but I feel so strongly that it should be considered.”

Some residents agree, saying they’ve seen less prostitution and drug dealing in the neighborhood since the bridge closed on June 30. They say that without trucks passing through South Park the air is cleaner and traffic is lighter.

“No one knew what life would be like without a bridge until would have been like until the day the bridge left,” said South Park resident and business owner Craig Ackermann, who wants the community to have an open conversation about what is best for the neighborhood and stop “shackling South Park to the past.”

But Dagmar Cronn, president of the South Park Neighborhood Association and the South Park Area Redevelopment Committee, says she has seen increased panhandling on 14th Avenue South and has been serving more homeless people at the Neighborhood Center.

We contacted the King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office to find out if he would consider community suggestions that a replacement bridge should be discussed. Government Relations Administrator Andrew Glass-Hastings, with the King County Deptartment of Transportation responded:

The vast majority of people in the community will tell you the bridge absolutely needs to be replaced. They will also tell you the South Park Bridge is much more than just a neighborhood bridge. The bridge is vital for regional mobility, freight, and transit. More than 20,000 vehicles a day including thousands of trucks and two bus routes used the bridge. It's an important connection for not only the residents of South Park but also for the people and goods that need to move about the Duwamish Industrial area, and support the 80,000 plus jobs there. 

Without the bridge the neighborhood is no doubt quieter, but this quiet will come at a price. Keep in mind that what makes both South Park and nearby Georgetown vibrant communities is the mix of industrial uses, creative retail, and residential neighborhoods. From what we are hearing from community leaders, the vast majority of residents and businesses miss the bridge and know that without it those industries and retail will soon disappear to places that are much easier to access.

Still, some community members think the bridge should be reconsidered.

“I’m not 100 percent sure we don’t need a bridge, but I’m frustrated people will not consider it,” said Suggs.

“There is a heart to South Park that has yet to be revealed,” said Ackermann. “We don’t have to lay down and die, we can be logical and creative (in our neighborhood.)”

Supporters of the South Park Bridge have always believed that the business district would suffer without a bridge.

Eugene Wasserman, representing the South Park business association, told me that business along 14th Avenue South and South Cloverdale Streets has dropped 25 percent since the bridge closed. He says the existing traffic patterns supported businesses for 50 years and they don’t need to be changed.

 “It will be replaced, no question,” Wasserman said.

Others have suggested that businesses in South Park should adapt to better serve neighborhood residents instead of passing traffic.

“I care deeply about our existing businesses, but they have survived on pass thru traffic. Can we create something that is a destination?” said Suggs. “This is about a neighborhood. It’s the residents and homeowners that have the most to gain or lose, it’s where we live.”

Wasserman argues that the bridge is also good for residents commuting to work or school.

Cronn believes that the majority of South Park residents still support a bridge replacement. She told me that over 1000 people in South Park signed a petition in support new bridge, but that was before the bridge closed.

“I am still a fervent supporter of still supporting the bridge and I think I represent the majority,” said Cronn.   

For Suggs, it’s a matter of what’s best for the neighborhood and local families.

“I would like South Park to be a place where I am not constantly intimidated by thugs and drug dealers, where it is less polluted, diverse and as interconnected as it’s always been,” she said. “I would like to (live in a place) where I’m not so worried about my kids.”

Photo courtesy Meredith Hall.