The city of Aberdeen and David Evans & Associates wanted to hear from residents about what to do about the North Aberdeen Bridge at an open house Tuesday. The goal was to show nine alternative options — with two to three key steps for each option — for the future of the the bridge, which is otherwise known as Young Street Bridge, or Kurt Cobain Bridge.
The 68-year-old bridge works and is safe to use but it needs substantial repairs. The city received $23.1 million to replace it and now the city is later on in the long process for what to do about it. Many people want to keep the bridge and many more just want to make sure its historical and cultural significance stays intact.
The city wants to whittle down the number of options from the nine it presented Tuesday night to two or three, according to Ruth Clemens, Aberdeen’s city administrator.
Forty-two people attended the open house, according to the open house logbook.
Public opinion
Nancy Cuyle wants to see option 1b, which is to rehabilitate the existing bridge, and maintain two vehicle lanes and a sidewalk. The second part of 1b is to build a temporary bridge offsite — along 4th Avenue — and detour traffic during construction.
“A fella said this would slow people down and make traffic more reasonable for everybody,” Cuyle said as she pointed to the plan in front of her. “Now, they just shoot across.”
While traffic safety was on her mind, saving the bridge and what it would mean worldwide, seemed just as important.
“It also preserves the Cobain Bridge,” Cuyle said. “We have visitors from all over the world and if we we tear it down, the city of Aberdeen would be seen as lower than dirt.”
Deborah Ross, who was a city councilor until the end of 2023, gave her opinion about the bridge and about the city’s process so far. In addition to Tuesday night’s open house at the Rotary Log Pavilion, the city has also hosted a couple Stakeholder Outreach Group (SOG) meetings in order to engage the public. Many of the people in the SOG are on the side of keeping the bridge and they seem to feel like the city is listening.
“I appreciate very much that the city allowed the residents to be involved,” Ross said. “A lot of people are very passionate about the bridge and they need to be heard.”
Ross gave a couple opinions on the bridge.
“Safety is really important and I don’t think we can save it as it exists. It’s just not safe. It hasn’t been safe for a long time. I know the writings and the tributes that are there, we don’t want to lose those. It’s a cool place. I’ve been there.”
She told a brief story of what happened when she had a foreign exchange student with her.
“We had an exchange student from Denmark,” Ross said, noting the bridge’s international appeal. “He begged us to take him (to the Young Street Bridge).”
Despite that, Ross said she was “siding” with replacing the bridge because it’s just not safe. The safety factor is what the city seems most concerned with. They often tout that it has a sufficiency rating of 7. While the rating does not indicate a lack of safety — despite the fact a new bridge receives a score of 100, the score does matter because if a bridge has a score that low it probably has other elements that need substantial repairs. The Young Street Bridge needs repairs.
But this isn’t just any old bridge. It draws international fans to Aberdeen because of its connection to the late Kurt Cobain, the frontman for Nirvana who helped create the Grunge sub-genre of rock. In January, English musician Tim Holehouse, plus a couple musicians from South Korea, visited the bridge. Holehouse said Cobain inspired him to pick up the guitar. The South Korean visitors had seen the bridge on YouTube and wanted to see it while they were touring the Pacific Northwest. Holehouse played a short set of Nirvana covers under the Young Street Bridge that day and the two South Korean men took photos of the various tribute messages. Greg Rekus, a musician from Canada was also there. He and Holehouse were in Aberdeen as part of a tour of the West Coast.
Clinton Dogger Mullins, a local musician who played underneath the bridge during the summer of 2023, offered what he’d like to see for the bridge’s future.
“I would like to see option 1 and for the bridge to stay there,” Mullins said. “I know it costs $10 million for it to happen, but we could crowdsource through donations and through a live-feed of under the bridge performances, (maybe) a benefit concert through the city of Aberdeen.”
Mullins would like to see the city do more for music than it has. He said he thinks a museum for live music, run by the city, would work.
“I feel like as a city and as a community, we can do more to celebrate music,” Mullins said,
Chuck Meskimen, a member of the city’s SOG, offered his thoughts on what he’d like to see as well.
“I think my choice would be to save the bridge, preserving the bridge in its entirety,” Meskimen said.
Meskimen wants to see choice 2b, which includes building a new bridge next to the existing Young Street Bridge for vehicles, and then rehabbing the existing bridge for pedestrian and bicyclist use only.
“(This way) there is enough room on the bridge to add park elements,” Meskimen said in reference to the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park, which has a concrete statue of a left-handed Fender guitar — the instrument Cobain famously used, a white sign with Cobain’s face on it, and other elements. “It hits all the right buttons. It’s a new structure for safety and it saves a worldwide known bridge.”
Meskimen had another idea to supplement choice 2b. He wants to turn the current park, which abuts with the bridge, into a parking lot to help with both vehicle traffic and pedestrian traffic.
Alternative options
The other choices beyond 1b and 2b, are below:
1a — Rehab the existing bridge; maintain two vehicle lanes and sidewalk, and then detour traffic onto a temporary bridge next to the existing bridge during construction
2a — Build a new bridge next to the existing Young Street Bridge for vehicles, pedestrians and bikes, rehab the southern portion of the existing bridge and leave that portion in place. The city will evaluate if the section can be used as a viewing platform, and then remove the northern portion of the existing bridge
2c — Build a new bridge over the existing Young Street Bridge, keep the southern portion of the existing bridge intact, and then detour traffic onto a temporary bridge during construction
2d — Build a new permanent bridge offsite (for example, build on 4th Avenue to Thomas Street), and then rehab the existing bridge for pedestrian and bicyclist use only.
3a — Build a new bridge that looks similar to the existing bridge in the same location, then remove the existing bridge and repurpose parts of the bridge in Kurt Cobain Memorial Park, then detour traffic onto a temporary bridge during construction
3b — Build a new bridge with modern appearance, in same location as existing bridge, remove the existing bridge and repurpose parts of the bridge in Kurt Cobain Memorial Park, then detour traffic onto a temporary bridge during construction
3c — Build a new bridge in the same location as the existing bridge for vehicles, pedestrians and bikes, remove the existing bridge and repurpose parts of the bridge in Kurt Cobain Memorial Park. With this option, a temporary bridge is not required. Build the new bridge in two stages: in the first stage build a shared use path for pedestrians and bikes, and use for temporary bridge — this avoids a separate temporary bridge.)
Anne Charneski, an engineer with David Evans and Associates, said it was a good turnout.
“It’s always good to hear the opinion of the public,” Charneski said. “We use feedback in our future planning. The public appreciates it too.”
With nine alternative options to sift through, that could make it tough for some people.
“This can be a lot of information to digest if you don’t have an engineering background,” she said. “We want them to fully understand the alternatives. So it’s a good opportunity to ask us questions. It’s beneficial for us as engineers and the public.”
Charneski addressed if there was a popular option the public made known.
“I’ve been hearing that 2b is very popular,” Charneski said. “It solves many problems. We’ll have to see how cost and scheduling pencils out. Those are the kinds of (elements) that can make or break a project.”
As far as what city staff prefers, they’re staying tight-lipped. Clemens, explained why she won’t offer an opinion on the bridge’s future.
“I don’t have a preference,” Clemens said. “I’m going to let the people of Aberdeen make that decision. I am a resident of Aberdeen, actually. I know I can pick one, but I’m just going to let the residents pick and let the stakeholder groups provide their information. I’m just going to let the process kind of play out.”
Online survey and more information
The city of Aberdeen has a website dedicated to information about the North Aberdeen Bridge project: naberdeenbridge.participate.online, which explains why the bridge’s function is important for residents, why the bridge’s future is in question, points about the funding, the overall safety of the bridge, the city process and timeline, and more.
For people who could not make the open house in person, an online version of the open house and an online survey runs up to April 19, according to the city. The survey can be reached with a click of the “Initial alternatives & survey” link that is an option at the top right of the city’s bridge project website.
According to the bridge project website, the top two project alternatives will be announced at a city council presentation in April. There will be an in-person open house in June 2024, where the community will be invited to provide feedback on the top-ranked alternative. And then at a city council presentation in June, the city will announce its preferred alternative.
For more questions about the project, email Kyle Fisher, the city’s project manager, at kfisher@aberdeenwa.gov, or call 360-537-3215.
Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.
Option 2b was a popular option amongst the public who showed up to the open house, according to Anne Charneski, an engineer with David Evans and Associates, Inc. Charneski, and her fellow engineers, were there to answer the public’s questions on the alternatives for the North Aberdeen Bridge project. In the satellite map, No. 1 points to a multi-directional bridge that would be built next to No. 2, the current North Aberdeen Bridge, which is also known as Young Street Bridge, or the Kurt Cobain Bridge. (Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World)
