The Case for Concrete
Tacoma voters decide on a $375,000 bond issue to replace decaying wooden bridges with permanent concrete structures.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Shall Tacoma issue $375,000 in bonds for bridges and sewers? The question is to be settled by the voters tomorrow. The South End is being flooded because of a lack of storm sewers, and $75,000 of the bonds will be used for this work. The old wooden bridges, put up when lumber was cheap, are collapsing and must be rebuilt. If the $300,000 bridge bonds are voted, fine concrete bridges will be put in on Puyallup Avenue, Yakima Avenue, North Twenty-first, North Twenty-third, and a steel bridge at South Tacoma Avenue. This will forever eliminate the heavy cost of repair bills that now drain the city exchequer. At the price lumber is now, engineers say it is utter folly to build any more wooden bridges. The repair bills amount to nearly as much as the interest on the bonds for concrete, and the city has to replace wooden structures every few years. A concrete bridge once up will last forever and grow stronger with the years.
“A concrete bridge once up will last forever and grow stronger with the years.”
Tacoma's struggle with aging infrastructure and the recurring costs of temporary fixes remains a hallmark of modern city planning. The debate over whether to issue bonds for long-term resilient infrastructure versus short-term maintenance is as relevant now as it was in 1909.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.