H-3771              _______________________________________________

                                    HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 4431

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Representatives D. Sommers, Dellwo, Moyer, Silver, Rector, Prince, Nealey, Fuhrman, Rayburn, Schmidt, Hankins, Betrozoff, R. Fisher, S. Wilson, Tate, Ferguson, Forner, Holland, H. Myers, Wolfe, Beck, Horn, Chandler, Doty, Padden, Smith and Brough

Read first time 1/19/90 and referred to Committee on Transportation.

WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess had a long-standing dream of an improved country through a better network of roads and bridges; and

          WHEREAS, This dream began long before Senator Sam Guess graduated from the University of Mississippi as a Civil Engineer in 1931; and

          WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess was able to put some of those ideas to work immediately after graduation when he was accepted into the Army Corps of Engineers, and later when he joined the First United States Army in Europe in 1940 as a roads and bridges engineer, where he completed his nine-year tour of duty as a major; and

          WHEREAS, After returning to civilian life Senator Sam Guess came to the Northwest, where he became acquainted with William Bugge, who encouraged him to enter politics, which he did in 1962 as a resident of Spokane, being elected to the Washington State Senate, where he immediately established himself as a strong defender of education and an advocate of modern technologies for better highways and transportation systems; and

          WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess was a man recognized throughout the Legislature and throughout the Inland Empire as a lawmaker who was not afraid to boldly pursue his convictions on matters that he felt would improve the operations of the state and the quality of life for its citizens, and who has worked tirelessly as well for the citizens of the Greater Spokane area; and

          WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess was an influential member of both the Senate Transportation Committee and the Legislative Transportation Committee, and was instrumental in the passage of major transportation legislation; and

          WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess took the lead in pursuing sound, progressive solutions to transportation needs and opened the way for Washington to become one of the leading states in modern highway and bridge planning and design; and

          WHEREAS, Senator Sam Guess was a key supporter and prime mover of such beneficial transportation projects as long-range priority programming for highways, which provided for the construction of highways on the basis of need rather than political favoritism; commencement of a modern highway system, which provided for efficient intrastate and interstate transportation links; construction of the first and second Lake Washington Bridges, which provided for a critical transportation route across Lake Washington; removal of the tolls from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which provided free and open access to all our citizens; adoption of the scenic and recreational highway system, which provided tourists and other travelers with breathtaking exposure to the natural beauties our state abounds with; the creation of the Urban Arterial Board, which provided for rational and long-term transportation planning and strategies; and many other important projects; and

          WHEREAS, The Division Street Bridge was opened July 1, 1958, as a new four-lane state highway facility on State Route 2, providing an important link between north and south Spokane; and

          WHEREAS, The Division Street Bridge will be dismantled and a new bridge constructed in 1990 as an important and integral part of maintaining the high standards of our state highway and bridge network;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the House of Representatives of the state of Washington, the Senate concurring, That the Washington State Legislature recognize and extend its best wishes to a man well recognized and respected by his peers as a strong defender of both state-wide and local transportation systems and as a legislator responsible to the many needs of his district and his state; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Washington State Transportation Commission commence proceedings to name the newly constructed bridge the Senator Sam C. Guess Memorial Bridge; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the ceremony to name the newly built bridge take place on the date the bridge is dedicated and opened to the public; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitably inscribed copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Washington State Transportation Commission and to the late Senator's wife, Dorothy.