Old bridge still has lengthy life span

SANDPOINT — Reports of the impending demise of the old Long Bridge are greatly exaggerated, according to the Idaho Transportation Department.

The department has no immediate or near-term plans to demolish the 54-year-old span on the west side of the existing U.S. Highway 95 bridge, although there is a very long-term plan which contemplates removing both structures and replacing them with a new bridge that caters to all modes of transportation.

But due to a shortage in state highway funding, money to replace the structures and build a new bridge won’t be available for more than a decade.

“There are no plans now or in the near future for funding to be able to do anything with the Long Bridge,” said ITD spokeswoman Barbara Babic.

A display advertisement purchased by the state and published in Sunday’s paper, however, has spawned concerns that demolition of the old bridge is imminent.

The state was required to place the ad in order to comply with a federal requirement that ITD notify the public that the bridge may be eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places due to its age. The ad also seeks interested parties who would be willing to take over maintenance of the structure if it’s to be preserved for posterity.

The old bridge was built in 1956 and converted to pedestrian and cyclist use when the new highway bridge was built on the west side of it in 1978, according to ITD.

The prospect of the old bridge’s possible demolition is not sitting well with its legion of passionate users. One person e-mailed the city of Sandpoint and said they were willing to chain themselves to the structure if demolition crews appeared.

“I am also willing to be in a guerilla force to shoot rocket propelled grenades at anyone who tries to tear it down. Would this be of any help?” the e-mail to the city’s parks department reads.

The city has no jurisdiction over the structure and contrary to the claims of some in the community, the old bridge is not a city park.

Babic said the noticing requirement results from a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling concerning the Sand Creek Byway, also known as the U.S. 95 bypass. The bypass is one segment of a four-part project to improve north/south traffic flow.

The other three parts involve improving the highway from Fifth Avenue to Kootenai Cutoff Road in Ponderay, widening the Long Bridge and improving the highway from the bridge to the Algoma area.

The federal appeals court ruled that work on the bypass could progress, but it also required further environmental review of the other three segments, none of which have identified construction funding.

If nobody is willing to assume the financial burden and liability of maintaining the old bridge and funding for a new bridge becomes available, the state said the structures could be replaced with a new structure.

“It would accommodate both vehicular and non-vehicular transportation,” said Babic. “It would not only accommodate the lanes of traffic and shoulders, but a separated bike path and — separated from that — a walking path.”