Address: 11th Street & Thea Foss Waterway
Construction date: 1913
Engineers: Waddell and Harrington
Historic Tacoma is working with stakeholders to call attention to the need to rehabilitate the 1913 Murray Morgan (11th Street) Bridge and return it to active use. Partners include the City of Tacoma, Save Our Bridge advocacy group, Tacoma Historical Society, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council. The case is compelling... the bridge was named to the WA Trust's 2008 Most Endangered Properties list.
Dominating the City's skyline at the Foss Waterway, the bridge is listed on the Tacoma and National Registers of Historic Places, and the State Heritage Register. Key to the City's urban development and Tacoma's labor history, the bridge opened in 1913, linking the downtown, waterfront, and industrial tide flats. Designed by renowned bridge engineers Waddell and Harrington, the bridge was remarkable for the height of the deck, the overhead span designed for carrying a water pipe, and its construction on a grade. In 1997 the bridge was renamed after Murray Morgan, a noted Washington historian.
Once an important link in Washington's highway system, the bridge's statewide relevance diminished when Route 509 and a new bridge at 21st Street opened in 1997. Heightened safety concerns after the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis led the State DOT to close the Murray Morgan Bridge in October 2007.
Officials agree that a bridge is needed at this location as a critical piece of the infrastructure. A coalition of community stakeholders, with support from federal and state legislators, has worked for four years to negotiate the transfer of ownership to the City and assemble rehabilitation funding. While the bridge continued to deteriorate, State promises to give the bridge to the City were mired in disagreements related to cost and responsibility for deferred maintenance and rehabilitation.
In December the City announced that it expects to finalize a deal to take back ownership of the Bridge from the state by the end of 2009, paving the way for the City to begin receiving more than $37 million in state and federal funds to help restore the span. The initial funding will help the city carry out the work needed to reopen the bridge to foot traffic, emergency vehicles and limited commercial traffic in 2010. The City will need another $26.5 million to complete the project, which is expected to be re-open to all traffic by 2013. Representative Dennis Flannigan and Mayor Bill Baarsma have played key roles in securing funding to restore the fabled bridge.
See TV Tacoma's January 2009 Cityscape program featuring Rep. Dennis Flannigan and HT member Jim Hoard and to see great vintage photos. For more information contact Brett Santhuff, Vice President, Historic Tacoma, 360-402-1062, bsanthuff@belayarchitecture.com or Rob McNair-Huff, Community Relations, City of Tacoma, 253-591-5054, robert.mcnair-huff@cityoftacoma.org
Photo credit: Chip van Gilder, 2005
Text revised:12/12/2009
