Urgency levels are high among Bremerton city officials as they work to make up ground on advancing the long-delayed Warren Avenue Bridge Multimodal Project.
Funding stands at $26.5 million, an amount made up of a $1.5 million grant from the state and the rest secured in the Move Ahead Washington package from the 2022 legislative session.
With the rescheduled open house occurring two months later, Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler said it’s now important to get clear input from the public and work to prioritize getting a resolution before the City Council. While not wishing to sacrifice any part of the public process, delays have him concerned about keeping the project’s funding secure.
“This is really an unprecedented amount of money, so it’s important for me to get this over the finish line,” he said. “If we don’t get this done by September, if we don’t have a clear direction from the city, there’s a chance that we could get bumped (down) or lose it altogether.”
Members of the public were invited to the Norm Dicks Government Center April 24 to give input on the project that looks to improve conditions for non-motorized forms of transportation, namely walking and cycling. As it stands, the walkways on both sides of the bridge vary in width between 3 feet, 2 inches and 3 feet, 11 inches, making both non-ADA compliant and severely limiting the volume of traffic along the walkways.
Maria Koski shared her displeasure with the bridge, citing speeding drivers as an additional reason why she avoids using it. “Currently, as the bridge is, I do not like walking on it. I do not like driving on it,” she said. “I don’t like it at all, so I can’t wait for it to be improved, and maybe I’ll make more use of it.”
Feasible alternatives varied between $17.8 million and $29.1 million. The city is looking to explore the possibilities of either making both sides accessible for pedestrians and cyclists or creating cycling accessibility for one side while expanding the other side to the minimum Americans with Disabilities Act requirements of 5 feet.
Mark Dickerson of Bremerton is one of several cyclists who have continued the commute across the bridge. He said he would like to see bicycle access on both sides but also believes it won’t change much for current habits. “I think cyclists who have gotten used to it are going to use whichever side is convenient to them regardless,” he said. “They figured out a way to manage the three-foot paths. They’ll keep doing it.”
The open house was a big step for city leaders as delays have impacted the project since its kickoff in 2021. Project manager Vicki Grover said she believes the community response step should have come much sooner.
“Originally, we thought this feasibility phase would take us six months,” she said. “There were a number of factors that I don’t care to elaborate on just because it’s the kind of things that will sometimes happen. There’s a lot of coordination with (state Department of Transportation), and the public process has taken us a little bit longer than anticipated.”
One of the more recent setbacks involved the open house itself as it had originally been scheduled for Feb. 23 at the Sheridan Park Community Center before being canceled due to inclement weather.
