End of the road for South Park Bridge | Community Spirit

It’s the end of the road for King County’s South Park Bridge.

It provided a vital link across the Duwamish River, with 20,000 vehicles a day crossing it. But no more.

Amidst the picture taking and nostalgia, there's anger, frustration and disappointment- that local leaders let the South Park bridge crumble and deteriorate, without a plan to replace it.

Maria Porco says, "I'm trying not to look at it as a negative, I'm trying to look at it as a positive for the community."

That's not easy to do.

Porco's parents opened Napoli Pizzeria in 1979, and the family still runs it today.

Porco says, "We've had customers that have been coming in for years."

Some of those regulars will find a way to keep coming, but without the bridge it will be impossible for others.

Porco says, "I guess as a business owner we can't think... we’re going to go down, you know, we're going to lose the business we're going to lose all these people. You have to stay positive."

 But the closing of this bridge does bring uncertainty.

When there's a fire in the South Park neighborhood, there's a fire station house on the right side of the bridge to respond, but the second engine needed for all commercial fires is not. The second engine is located on the other side of the river. That crew will have to go all the way around the First Avenue South Bridge to respond.

Bridges last an average of 75 years. This one's 80 years old and it shows every bit of its age.

From a distance the old bridge is still quite sight, but a closer view exposes crumbling concrete and corroded steel.

Dan Slemko says, "You know I'll miss the beauty of it."

But that's about all Dan Slemko says he'll miss, as he sits in his backyard, looking at the bridge.  As the siren is heard in the background, signaling a closure of the bridge for a boat, Slemko smiles and says, "Siren's quite loud."

The siren will be silenced, but not the voices of those who want a new bridge built.

This bridge opened in 1931 to move people and products to and from the South Park neighborhood.

Artist Elisa Renouard says, "I think this neighborhood is so fascinating because of its evolution."

Renouard was asked to create a mural that depicts the neighborhood's rich history.

 Renouard says, "In the beginning when it was all farmland, when Japanese and Italian immigrants who supplied the market with produce, they all lived here and it's a huge part of South Park's identity."

And back at Napoli’s Porco says, "We try not to look at the negative because then you tend to lose hope."

The closing of the bridge means detours and changes to bus routes. 

Here are links to the information:

Maps/detour routes:  http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/SouthParkBridge/GettingAroundSouthPark.aspx

Bus routes:  http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/rr/SouthParkBridge.html