Citizens sound off on bridge’s impact

Paige Richmond

of the Gateway

Published: 04:42PM July 16th, 2008

When the eastbound span of the new Narrows bridge opened last year, one thing was for certain: The lives of Gig Harbor residents were changed.

A handful of locals weighed in on how the bridge has affected their day-to-day activities, from easing traffic congestion to the cost of tolls:

Temporary cost for permanent gain

Christina Fernandes drives across the bridge daily. She’s home for the summer from Western Washington University in Bellingham, where she is majoring in communications, and she’s working at Cutters Point at Uptown Gig Harbor.

But Fernandes, 20, has also taken a summer internship at the CBS network studio in Seattle, which means she pays $2.75 with her Good to Go! pass to commute every day.

“The bridge has helped me because there’s less traffic, but it has not helped my bank account because it costs so much,” she said.

New development means staying home

When Werner Kraft moved to Gig Harbor from Germany in the 1960s, traffic on the Narrows bridge “wasn’t too bad” during his daily commute to Tacoma.

He said it wasn’t until the 1980s, when the city began to develop more, that traffic became a problem.

The new bridge, however, has eliminated that congestion — and so has Kraft’s recent retirement, which means he no longer commutes.

“Now, we don’t have the traffic to worry about,” he said.

But the bridge has brought other changes for the Krafts. Barbara Kraft, Werner’s wife, has noticed that development has increased after the bridge opened, which makes her life more convenient.

As an example, she used to drive to the Tacoma YMCA before the Gig Harbor facility was constructed.

“I think people are staying at home, and businesses are flourishing,” she said. “It’s developed more on this side of the bridge.”

Less road time, more family time

Right now, Laura Crocker only crosses the bridge twice a week, but she’s still experienced the eastbound span’s positive effects.

Crocker and her family travel frequently, and she appreciates not having to wait hours in traffic to get home after occasional trips.

The bridge also means more quality time for Crocker, her husband and their 10-month-old daughter, Gracie.

“It’s helped my husband to get home at a decent hour,” she said.

Young or old, the bridge still matters

Even though they’re years away from driving across the bridge themselves, Melissa Browne, 12, and Jackie Siridakis, 11, still have their opinions.

Browne crosses it regularly, since she lives in Gig Harbor and her mom lives in Tacoma. Although she’s glad the new bridge exists, she’s opposed to paying tolls on it for one specific reason.

“It slows you down,” she said, referring to stopping at the booth to pay cash. “Unless you have a Good to Go! (transponder).”

Siridakis doesn’t agree. She has a friend whose father works on the bridge, and she thinks the tolls are necessary.

“You need to pay for the workers,” she said. “Not only that, but to pay for all the fees it took to build the bridge.”

Those fees, Browne said, can be dangerous. She worries that the Washington State Department of Transportation “won’t be honest” with Gig Harbor residents by refusing to remove the tolls in 2030, as originally planned.

“On this side,” she said, “we need to stop paying tolls when the bridge is paid off.”

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