King County Department of Transportation's Linda Dougherty and Tim Lane, she of the Road Services Division, he, an engineer and guru of bridge maintenance, officially declared on a media tour May 5 that the South Park Bridge will be laid to rest at 7 p.m., June 30.

With its failing joints, antiquated musculature, and cracking skeletal system, not even Dr. House, the Coast Guard, or Viagra can resuscitate the 80 year-old bascule span. Unlike the little engine that could, the little bridge no longer can.

A newly-released independent engineer report confirms what Tim Lane and other county engineers already knew.

Like a doctor's second opinion, the bridge is doomed, and no x-rays were needed as the metal teeth obviously no longer line up in the bridge's down-position. Concrete is disintegrating and the spans are out of line. So no more bandages will be applied to the hemorraging.

County Executive Dow Constantine went to Washington, D.C. to fight for federal funding for a new bridge, planned to be placed immediately to the north of the existing bridge.

Constantine told Robinson Newspapers, "I will...continue lobbying for federal help for the South Park Bridge. I have charged our Department of Transportation with putting together a comprehensive and feasible financing plan that includes local, state, federal and potentially private money to move forward in constructing the bridge that we have already designed and engineered.

"There are other, more glamorous projects, but now, with the impending closure of the bridge, people outside of our immediate community are able to recognize that this really is a critical link, one that perhaps they don't use every day, but the loss will impact them economically and also in terms of their commute."

For more information on the new engineers report, go to:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2.