Design options for Totem Lake Connector Bridge narrowed down to four

The Kirkland City Council, with help from citizen input, has narrowed down the design options for the Totem Lake Connector Bridge from 10 to four.

The pedestrian and bicycle bridge would go over the intersection of NE 124th Street and Totem Lake Boulevard, and the plan is for the project to be completed in the next three years. It is part of the Cross Kirkland Corridor master plan.

The council held a study session earlier this month with city of Kirkland Senior Project Engineer Aaron McDonald and Schaun Valdovinos, a consultant from the design firm, COWI, that is working on the bridge.

The four final options chosen by the council for the bridge include the “Skipping Stone,” “The Gates,” “Half Arches” and “Suspended Ring” concepts. “Skipping Stone” uses a pair of elegant arches to support the structure, “The Gates” faintly resembles San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, “Half Arches” look like a pair of capital “A”s blowing in the wind, and “Suspended Ring” is supported by a dramatic pillar.

More images of all of the options can be found on the project’s webpage, www.kirklandwa.gov/totemlakeconnector.

City staff will continue to seek public input on the design of the bridge through an online survey, which will start on Friday. The survey will be open through May 1, and a link to it can be found on the project’s webpage.

“We are deferring to the public for their opinions,” Kirkland Neighborhood Services Coordinator Christian Knight said. “(Their input) is a significant factor in the decision-making process.”

Knight said they started working on the design phase of the project in October, including interviewing business owners in the area about the bridge. The city received more than 400 responses to a previous survey about the project, and Knight said they’ve averaged 50 people at previous open houses.

The city will also host the third in a series of open houses on the project at 5 p.m. May 4 at the Kirkland Justice Center. The May 4 event will start with an open house format at 5, followed by a presentation about the project by staff at 6 and a question-and-answer session.

The city council will make the final decision on the bridge’s design, but they plan to take citizen feedback gathered through the survey and at the open house into account.