In the next few years, the historic Young Street Bridge will cease to exist and another bridge will take its place in North Aberdeen.

The city of Aberdeen received $25 million in grant funding from Washington State Joint Transportation Committee for the bridge’s replacement, according to Ruth Clemens, city administrator for the city of Aberdeen.

The added funding delighted Clemens and the city’s public works team. The current estimate for replacing Young Street Bridge is $23.2 million. The city originally was to be awarded $15 million, which would have created a funding gap of more than $8 million.

“The Joint Transportation Committee came back to us and offered to fund the whole thing of $25 million,” Clemens said. “It caught us off guard, really. We’re so overjoyed by that. We’ll gladly accept it.”

This isn’t the first time the city applied for funding to replace the bridge. City staff tried in 2019, and again in 2021, according to Nick Bird, engineer for the city of Aberdeen.

“I do not have a definitive answer as to why the replacement funding was not awarded earlier,” Bird said.

The construction for the new bridge must start by September 2026. Before that, the city has to complete all of the planning and designing for the new bridge. It also must adhere to a few “strings,” in order to keep the funding. Bird explained those strings.

“We must comply with the Local Agency Guidelines manual, Washington State Department of Transportation Design manual, Washington State Department of Transportation Construction manual, ensure Americans with Disabilities Act standards are met and actively pursue the project — start and keep it moving,” Bird said. “The project is eligible for 100% federal funding of eligible costs for phases that are obligated — started — prior to September 2026. Anything started after September 2026 will not cause us to lose the money, but will require the city provide a 13.5% match to all project phases after that start date. As such, our target is to initiate construction early in 2026 or earlier, if possible, to ensure we eliminate that risk.”

Young Street Bridge, a 304-foot-long, two-way bridge that carries traffic over Wishkah River in North Aberdeen, is 66-years-old. The bridge will be replaced with a 350-foot-long bridge. The plan is to get the new bridge cleared for traffic in October 2027, according to the city’s Bridge Improvement Program Planning Grant application for fiscal year 2022.

While the bridge’s age is not the driving factor, Bird explains what is.

“Condition is the principal driver for replacement of the structure,” Bird said. “All bridges in Washington state are regularly inspected and assigned (sufficiency) ratings to determine the overall health of a bridge.”

Bird said a sufficiency rating (SR) is a score calculated based on a multitude of factors. The rating is based on a range from 0 to 100, with 100 being an entirely sufficient bridge and 0 being an entirely insufficient or deficient bridge, as defined by the Federal Highway Administration.

Young Street Bridge’s SR score was 14.71. While that rating sounds concerning, it doesn’t mean it’s unsafe to drive over the bridge.

“As the SR decreases, you will see load limit signs installed or adjusted, reducing the loading of larger vehicles on the structure,” Bird said. “Please note, this low rating does not mean that the bridge is unsafe to use today. If an inspection determined that was the case, the bridge would be closed until temporary repairs could be made and continue the safe travel of motorists over the structure.”

Bird explained what led to Young Street Bridge’s current low score.

“In this specific case, the low rating is principally being driven by the scour occurring at supporting piers,” Bird said.

Currently, there are more than 2,250 vehicles per day with 5% of those drivers being truck traffic that transit over the bridge, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Local Programs Federal Local Bridge Program Project application.

Plans for diverting traffic are already in place for the thousands of people who drive over Young Street Bridge daily.

“Our intent is to construct a temporary structure adjacent to the existing bridge for traffic to use during construction,” Bird said. “Similar to bridge replacements that you see on I-5, or other major roadways, you will get to see the progress being made on the bridge every day as you pass by.”

Clemens sounded happy to see the bridge will be replaced, since it is another project — on top of the recent roundabout addition that replaced a five-way intersection at East Market and F streets and Fuller Way — that will help modernize the city.

“Having really, really strong infrastructure definitely can make or break a city,” Clemens said. “So, I’m glad we’re starting to take care of these hot ticket items.”

Another location in town that the city needs to keep in mind is “Think of Me Hill,” because of the re-routes that might be sent over the hill, to Olympic Highway, Walmart and a variety of other retail shops and fast food restaurants. That route would send additional drivers west down Wishkah Boulevard Street so they can access Aberdeen’s downtown core.

“It’s gonna require a lot of communication to help route people appropriately … .” Clemens said. “We’ll have to work with our design and project managers to determine what’s the best route, to make sure this is all happening with the least amount of (obstruction) to traffic as possible.”

In addition to replacing the city’s historic bridge, the city has to figure out what to do about the bridge’s relation to Grays Harbor’s biggest music star, the late Kurt Cobain, who founded Nirvana.

“We recognize it as a landmark,” Clemens said. “It’s a location where Kurt Cobain sought shelter. We might be reaching out to the community on how we’ll continue to memorialize (that location) for him.”

Since the bridge is to be replaced, the city also has to consider the art that exists on the bridge’s underbelly, such as the sign that says “In Memoriam. From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.”

But at this point, Bird said, it’s too early to tell of what sort of restoration effort is in the works.

“We need to confirm what options we have relating to what federal funding can be used for, however we have already discussed that we do need to actively engage the community on this topic,” Bird said.