On March 21, 1931, the South Park Bridge (called the 14th Avenue S Bridge) spanning the Duwamish River opens to traffic. It provides a crucial connection between the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, located on the west bank of the waterway, and the rest of Seattle, most of which lies across the river to the east and north of the Duwamish Waterway. Access to the Boeing plant directly across the river will be an ongoing crucial advantage of the bridge. It is a Scherzer rolling-lift type of double-leaf bascule bridge. It replaces a wooden swing bridge (also called the 14th Avenue South Bridge) constructed in 1914-1916 a hundred feet north (downstream). This old timber bridge will be demolished by October 10, 1931, six months after the opening of the new South Park Bridge. The new bridge will serve until June 30, 2010, when it will, due to its severely deteriorating condition, be closed to traffic. The South Park community will do without a bridge for four years, after which the 1931 bridge will be replaced by a trunnion type of double-leaf bascule bridge that will open on June 30, 2014.
The Scherzer Bascule Bridge
The bridge had two 95-foot leaves that rolled back on horizontal tracks as they lifted, which created more clearance for shipping. The heel of the leaf dipped below the road level, making a big gap and requiring an extra barrier. The roadway was 38 feet wide with a six-foot sidewalk on either side. This type of bascule bridge was designed by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company of Chicago.
The bridge's approach spans were supported by Warren deck trusses. (A truss is a support system made up of members [wood or steel] arranged in verticals and diagonals. In a "deck truss" the roadway is level with the top chord, in other words the supporting truss is under the roadway. The Warren truss has a triangular pattern with a vertical member in the center of each triangle.)
The span was built at a cost of $1.1 million. The King County bridge engineer in charge was T. P. Blum and the contractor who built it was Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co., the firm owned by H. W. McCurdy (1899-1989). The contract price (part of the total price, which included bridge components fabricated by the Scherzer Bridge Co.) was $482,181 with another $55,877.46 required for "extras." And what, we may ask, were these "extras"?
Troubles Over Bridging Waters
For "extras" read "trouble." Oh, there were troubles, between county and contractor. Here is an excerpt of County Engineer T. P. Blum's fuming report to the county commissioners (original spelling retained):
"The history of these extras is as follows: Political pressure was brought to bear on the South Dist. Comm. W. B. Brinton to lower the piers immediately after the letting of the contract. Atty Shorett of the Waterway Dist. No. 1 (who is also the attorney for the P.S.B. and D. Co.) stated that the piers would not allow any lowering of the river bottom and for that reason would prohibit the passage of large ships up the river. This was a subterfuge and excuse to make the lowering of these piers sound logical. In reality, the Board of Marine Underwriters told me that they would cancel the policy of any ship which would presume to pass thru the 125' channel. This board of M. U. contended that if the passage of large ships was what the County Comm. wanted, that the bridge would have to be made longer span. The P.S.B.&D Co. had their caps all set for an extra $101,000 plus. This no doubt was their scheme from the start. .... How the U.S. Engineers Office would allow the P.S.B.&D Co. to cut far below the elevation set on their plans for the then bottom of the channel can probably be explained, that the P.S.B.& D. Co. superintendent and the government inspector were brothers. We had a hell of a time all the way thru this job trying to get the right thing done for the County" (T. P. Blum, "Bridge and Wharf Record," King County Engineer's Office, December 9, 1933).
This attempt by Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co. to create a more expensive job was countered by the assistant county engineer getting the Scherzer Bridge Co. to cut the piers differently "so that instead of $101,000 extras they got only $55,877.46, which was practically thrown overboard" (T. P. Blum, "Bridge and Wharf Record," King County Engineer's Office, December 9, 1933).
Blum then proceeded to reveal further shenanigans perpetrated by various persons on "our bright little County." He continued:
"These above stamtents dear reader are not the result of a crab-nightmare but goes to show you the machinicians of scheming contractors and politicians. This office tryed its level best to give the contractor a square deal according to its signed contracts and the job specifications. Nothing was done by any of this offices' representatives to incur any enemity of the contractors but on the contrary tryed to promote the harmony which is so essential to the complete culmination of any sucessfull job. For our trouble McCurdy of the P.S.B.& D. Co. asked the County Engineer T. D. Hunt to fire yours truly and Chas. Edaburn, the Supt. threatened to whip Vic Haner and Harry Woelber our inspectors" (T. P. Blum, "Bridge and Wharf Record," King County Engineer's Office, December 9, 1933).
Blum concluded his sizzling report with "The redeeming feature of the whole thing is that we have acted like men and that we were neither fired or licked. We took neither cigars, whiskey or money and altho disliked we have the contractors respect (at least as far as honesty is concerned)" (T. P. Blum, "Bridge and Wharf Record," King County Engineer's Office, December 9, 1933). .
South Park's Bridge
Despite wrangling, difficulty, and probably cheating, the South Park Bridge opened to traffic on March 21, 1931. It provided an essential link between the South Park neighborhood and the rest of Seattle. The bridge served the community and the industrial areas of the Duwamish Waterway for nearly 80 years. In 2010 its deteriorating and dangerous condition prompted King County to make the decision to close it, despite the fact that sufficient funds had yet to be raised for a replacement bridge.
Amid a wake and many protests by community members who considered the South Park neighborhood to be now abandoned, the bascule bridge's leaves were opened for good on the evening of June 30, 2010. The life of the bridge was over: Traffic could no longer pass.
Flash forward four years. Following considerable hardship suffered by the businesses and residents of the South Park community, following an enormous effort by King County and other entities to raise funds, and following months of environmental mitigation and construction, the celebration of the opening of the new South Park Bridge, a trunnion type of double-leaf bascule bridge, took place on June 29, 2014. The new bridge opened to commuter traffic at 6 a.m. on Monday, June 30, 2014, four years to the day after the old bridge closed to traffic.
