Cyclists will still see a 12-foot-wide path advance in updates to the Warren Avenue Bridge walkways, even after high construction costs forced city leaders to abandon their preferred alternative selected last August.

A new alternative was selected April 17 by the Bremerton City Council, which voted for a 12-foot east-side pathway and a five-foot path for the west.

The council had selected a 12-foot path on the east side and an eight-foot path on the west, a design introduced to the public as Alternative X. The cyclist community-backed alternative passed but had received criticism for its sudden consideration and the unknowns of cost and feasibility.

Public Works and Utilities director Tom Knuckey said updated estimates show that the selected alternative to cost around $30.3 million, well above the longstanding $26.5 million budget for the project. The new information saw the high-risk, high-reward scenario fall flat, forcing city leaders to try again.

“My goal as a stakeholder in the committee was to just keep all viable options on the table to bring to council and get public feedback on,” Councilman Jeff Coughlin said. “I gotta say that it is unfortunate that some of the last-minute changes we got in the past six months from WSDOT (state Department of Transportation) have required us to pick this new preferred alternative.”

Knuckey called the new option “absolutely feasible” and still accomplishing the city’s goal to increase pathway accessibility. “It’s minimum on the one side, granted, but it is fully ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible on both sides,” he said. WSDOT “specifically accepted that configuration for it, and it is their bridge.”

Councilmember Jane Rebelowski called the extension from 3.5 feet to even the minimum five feet would still be a significant change for walkers. “It doesn’t sound like it on paper, but it’s going to make a big, huge difference. When I’m on my bike, I’ll be on the east side,” she said.

The anticipated construction cost of $22.5 million is also a plus. Knuckey said, “Granted, through design, we’ll understand the full cost of the improvements much better, and a year from now, we’ll have a better understanding of what the cost of the bridge might be.” Leftover funds could be used for off-bridge improvements and connections of shared-use pathways, he added.

The new alternative continues to herald the importance of a 12-foot pathway on at least one side of the bridge, a concern voiced by the cycling community. “Having that one side is really critical because you’ve got people going back and forth on both ways. Eight would be too narrow,” Coughlin said.