Opposition rises against bridge project

A hoard of residents raised loud opposition to the Greensferry Road Bridge's reconstruction during a Post Falls Highway District neighborhood meeting Tuesday night.

Since the original bridge was closed in the late 1960s, growth and expanding development on the south side of the river has influenced the highway district to restore the link between the city of Post Falls and the community.

"I've been on the highway district for about 27 years now as a commissioner, and from the day I got here, people have asked about putting a bridge back in at Greensferry," PFHD Commissioner Terry Werner said. "Now, because of the growth going on over there, we thought it would be a good time to bring it back up."

The meeting was an attempt to open communication lines by PFHD to hear from adjacent property owners likely to be impacted by the bridge before drafting engineer plans.

Daniel Baker, HDR project manager, said the highway district initially chose the bridge's location because they own 50 feet of right of way. By using the right of the way, the project would ultimately save millions of taxpayer dollars, he said.

Most at the presentation were against Greensferry Road's placement, but they recognized the necessity for another bridge across the river.

Ron and Christina Davidson have lived in their current house for 20 years, but they fear it would be removed if the bridge went in.

"I agree that they need to do something about another bridge, but this is just not the location," Christina said. "I can guarantee that our home we've spent the last 10 years building would be condemned. They'd have to take it as an eminent domain."

Living next to the Spokane Street bridge, Lori Virden and her husband supported the project.

"The traffic on Spokane Street used to be nothing, it is now dangerous," Virden said. "There needs to be additional ways to get across that river."

Baker said that the location would be close to the main population center of Post Falls, potentially best-serving growth in the area and more immediate access to essential services.

HDR and Borders also said they interviewed key stakeholders before the neighborhood meeting, including the mayor, the Kootenai County sheriff, emergency services and school districts, for input.

Scott Samways, one of the neighborhood residents who spent 30 years in the Fire Service, agreed with the necessity of the bridge for safety services. He pointed out that if a person in the neighborhood had a heart attack or kitchen fire, they are at risk.

"The response right now is a minimum of five minutes, most likely 10. In my experience, three minutes and a person is pretty much not going to make it," Samways said.

Some of the residents said that while the intentions were good by the engineers' conversation with emergency services and officials, the real stakeholder they should have spoken to first were the residents.

"Of course, the fire department wants a bridge, the police department, the school district, it would make their little world easier," Steven Ridenour said.

Currently, the project is in phase one and would need a 66% or a two-thirds majority vote by residents on the 2021 bond election to move forward. If approved by the voters, the bridge would tentatively finish construction in 2025. All comments regarding the bridge are due by Sept. 30.