Group discusses idea of a new bridge for Coulee Dam

A group of people met in Coulee Dam Tuesday to start a discussion about someday replacing the bridge over the Columbia River on SR-155.

The current bridge, built in 1935, is half as wide, at 20 feet, as the state Department of Transportation would like - not to mention every truck driver who finds it necessary to wait for traffic before making an illegal wide swing into oncoming lanes to be able to make the narrow, right-angle turns.

Discussion ensued about 1 p.m. around a table at the school district office, with 10 people present.

They included Ken Stanger, a school board member and longtime project developer who called the meeting; Paul Turner, Grand Coulee Dam School District superintendent; 12th Legislative District Rep. Keith Goehner and his staff member Brandt Copper; Grand Coulee Dam Power Manager Coleman Smith; Colville Business Councilmember Virgil Smoker Marchand; Coulee Dam Mayor Bob Poch; Dave Biershbach, region administrator with the state Dept. of Transportation; William Womer, of Womer & Associates, an engineering firm; resident Caleb Moore, and a reporter.

Biershbach, from the DOT, said the bridge is listed as "functionally obsolete," not because of any safety issues, but because of its narrow width. Replacing it could take a long time, with more than 100 bridges in the state on a waiting list for funding already, he said, but Tuesday's meeting was the right way to start.

He threw out an estimate that it could cost $70 million to more than $100 million to fund.

But currently, the bridge couldn't even get on a list for fresh paint until 2030, and other bridges are in worse shape, or older, such as one in Omak built 100 years ago.

Rep. Goehner suggested getting more legislators and other entities involved, noting the fact that traffic over the bridge also affects the 7th and 13th Districts and regional interests.

Smith, with USBR, said the bridge is important to operations at the dam, which is designated as critical national infrastructure.

"I think that because of the association of state, federal and community interests," Stanger said, "I think there's a larger impact (that) can be brought to many other stakeholders."

He thinks "it's time" for the federal government to help in upgrading a local asset, noting no federal money helped build the new school, despite the federal presence in the community.

The group walked out to highway 155, where Stanger led them onto a medium with a view to a point across the river at a diagonal where he said an engineer had suggested to him would be a good site for a new bridge.

Stanger said he would be contacting local town councils and more regional entities, plus other legislators for support.