A city without vision and bridges over troubled waters.
“Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth …” however, the truth is often hidden in murky waters, and that is apparent with the planned design of the Arlington Bridges.
In the fall of 2019, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) rolled out plans to replace and rebuild the Arlington Bridges. The nearly one hundred-year-old bridges are structurally in need of replacement under current standards, and anyone who has lived here in flood times has seen the debris dam form against the pillars of the bridges.
During the early days of COVID 19, any user of government services was aware, the government shut down. The local government is going to say they didn’t, but it was apparent they did – did you try getting a live voice on the phone? During this time is when a group who was interested in providing input regarding the design of the bridges would get together via Zoom and the Reno Tahoe Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) called them ‘stakeholders.’ The stakeholders were invited to take part in the RTC meetings but were informed they would be allowed to comment only on the pre-decided agenda items and for no more than three minutes. Seems convenient how things such as this progressed right along behind the curtain.
Some of the stakeholders became disillusioned and began discussing whether the proposed project accommodated future transit needs to serve the accelerated population growth. These three-minute speakers began to feel shut-out, and their dissolution escalated in the spring of 2021 when Jacobs Entertainment announced plans to build 3,000 apartments in downtown Reno, you know where all the motels have been demolished. Citizens who had already felt the replacement bridge plan was outdated before the design stage was finished, expressed further concern realizing a boom in new residential housing and supporting businesses would dramatically increase vehicle numbers in the downtown core. RTC was content to limit their public comment to the end of the meeting, despite their valuable input.
Ideas from the Bridgetenders further included how Reno’s Wingfield Park needed revitalization and a push toward bringing it up to meet the American Disability Act (ADA) standards should occur. Some of these stakeholders had wild ideas, like when updating the Arlington Bridges maybe renovate and expand the park. They also proposed updating and expanding the amphitheater. Some even had radical ideas about developing Wingfield’s surrounding river front.
This group of stakeholders spoke with civil engineers and the “Bridgetenders” formed to unite the voices of these stakeholders and others. Soon, the concept of a fly over bridge was hatched. The idea to relocate the Arlington Avenue Bridge route to the apex of Wingfield Park came from Eric Sheetz, a professional civil engineer. His suggestion was to bring the design into the future with a fly over bridge design that originates at Court Street and then swings to the west above the existing Island Avenue parking spaces on the south side of Wingfield Park and leads to one bridge (not two) that would cross the river at the parks western apex before gradually descending back to street level via Stevenson Street. Following the cardinal design rule, form follows function, this would create a safe, non-stop route for emergency vehicles, large delivery trucks, buses and cars. This design would allow the entire park to be open and to be used by the citizens.
RTC has seeming not addressed flood control or ongoing bridge maintenance due to future flooding in this project. To the contrary, RTC’s current design plan would strengthen structures, allowing bridges to take the brunt during floods. A fly over bridge would eliminate this bridge as a source for log jams. RTC’s CEO Bill Thomas (RTC Brief) said, “RTC will build the bridges, the Park Department can do whatever they want with Wingfield Park after the bridges project’s completion.” Thus, three critical departments, Reno Parks & Recreation Department, Truckee River Flood Management Authority, and RTC do no appear to be working in unison on the bridge project.
In speaking with Honor Jones, one of the Bridgetenders and an active voice in the future of Reno, the RTC was uninterested in talk about upstream mitigation, to include the idea of a log screen which could catch and divert downstream debris flows, before they reach the city core. This, along with ideas for catchment parks that would double as soccer fields have fallen on deaf ears. Honor is worried about the future of downtown and feels as though her opinions and ideas are overlooked, in favor of the present.
Fast forward to a meeting held on August 11, 2022, at the McKinley Arts & Culture Center on Riverside Drive (we were surprised the meeting was held on the same night as the weekly Farmers Market, hence no parking, which might seem intentional on the part of RTC, since attendance at the meeting was low – perhaps 15 people and at least that many RTC employees).
At that meeting as part of the package, the bomb was dropped that the park, Arlington Avenue, and the river will be closed for up to two years. The RTC also responded to suggestions of a fly-over bridge with a simple, “No. The existing roadway and nearby building elevations at First Street and Island Avenue prohibit the ability to raise the bridge profiles.”
The RTC, in the notes of the meeting, claim that there cannot be a fly over bridge built. There can’t? From numerous meetings, the RTC is aware that, in fact, there can be a fly over bridge can be built. Sounds like the RTC refuses to even consider such a grand bridge.
So are we left with an ugly possibility, that maybe RTC is just not listening because the people asking the questions, the Bridgetenders, are generally 65 years old and older? Is this yet another example of ageism? Maybe the RTC and the City of Reno have practiced benevolent ageism, holding meetings with the Bridgetenders with no real intention of taking them seriously. Must Bill Thomas and Mayor Hillary Schieve be reminded, one day, they may be lucky enough to be a bit older, and we’ll bet they will still want to be relevant. As Honor summarized, “There wouldn’t be a tank big enough to stop them now.”
Sadly, the cake seems to be baked on this project and with it the future of downtown may be as well. What this city leadership lacks is a vision, according to Honor. She cited future increases in the downtown core population and the need for a bridge that can increase capacity and be a draw for the city. She isn’t wrong, many cities have invested in beautiful bridges, designed to last a hundred years. Why can the city leadership not see beyond motel teardowns and electric scooters to the true future of downtown? While every other park in Reno is stained with urine and sleeping homeless, Wingfield Park has been a consistent draw for tax-paying citizens who love this community. Apparently, our city leadership won’t be happy until it too is a restroom and camp, with copy-cat bridge providing the shade.
