R.I.P. Southpark Bridge

This is the bridge that will be shutting down tonight at 7pm. It is in horrible shape and on a scale of 1 to 100 for bridge safety, with 100 being the best, it rates a 5. So what happened? Well, the $50 million slated got rerouted over to Vulcanville, also known as South Lake Union by the power arm turning of one Paul Allen. He is trying to get the long detested "Mercer Mess" cleaned up and a lot of money is being poured into that area with the likes of the Gates Foundation and Amazon deciding to drop anchor. So while the rich get richer, a bridge that carried 20,000 cars a day is being shut down for at least 3 years and many think a whole lot longer.So last Sunday before enjoying breakfast with Mick, I did a drive by and saw the signage going up to alert the public. This is the most obvious...and these are for our those who speak Spanish and Vietnamese, I think. Those are two large populations in the neighborhood. It really is sad to see what this will do to the area. Businesses will be shuttered most certainly. Oh yes, locals will cry "Never!" and yet in due course it will happen. Shopping patterns will change as people drive in and out of the area differently. It will be interesting.

But tonight Markie will be hosting a Wake at his home in Southpark (below) and there is at least one other that was mentioned on the news this morning. I will be attending as I know that bridge all too well and will actually miss it in some bizarre way. And so farewell kind bridge. R.I.P.