SEATTLE—
A change to your commute may not sound like a big deal, but consider this:For the tens of thousands of people who pass through South Park every day, it's about to make life a lot more difficult.
The South Park Bridge will be permanently closed June 30th at 7 pm and no replacement will be built.
It's been called a work horse of a bridge, nothing glamorous, it just gets the job done, at least for the next 112 days.
It's reached the end of the useful life. It cannot be fixed.
Building a new one would cost 127-million dollars and the money isn't there, so everyone who needs it will have to find another way.
That's bad news for Labarbara Brooks.
She barely managed a temporary closure a few weeks ago.
Brooks says, "I was lost. I mean I was going Delridge and that's really way out of my way and with gas prices like they are that was really hurting me and to hear that it's getting ready to close. I just don't know what I'm going to do."
The South Park Bridge has been around for a long time. It was built in 1928. It's got cracks all over it, the concrete is crumbling and the rebar is showing through. It's literally falling apart, but the 20 thousand people who use the bridge every day -- they're pissed off. They call it a lifeline and say they can't imagine living without it."
South Park Resident Henry Terrell says, "All these businesses right here... They're going to be gone. It's going to be a ghost town, literally, they're screwed. They're totally 100% screwed."
South Park is one of the poorer areas in King County and some people say they think that's why they are being left without a bridge.
They ask: would anyone considering closing a bridge like the Montlake?
Linda Dougherty with the King County Department of Transportation says, Tearing down a really important arterial roadway is a really difficult decision."
There could one day be life after death for the South Park Bridge.
The city of Seattle and the Port of Seattle acknowledge the importance of the bridge and could join with the county to find ways to pay for a new bridge.
Dougherty says, "That gives me great optimism that sometimes you have a struggle getting there but we are going to get the bridge funded.I feel very confident that we will."
The question is; how long will that take?
