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The possibility of a third bridge being built to connect West Salem to the surrounding community inched slightly forward on Monday when Salem City Council approved the latest proposal in a plan called the “Salem Alternative.”

Julie Warncke, Salem’s transportation planning manager, said the plan still needs approval from officials in Marion and Polk counties as well as Salem-Keizer Area Public Transit and Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

“It’s a big step, but it’s still a very preliminary step,” she said of City Council’s decision.

Warncke said the approved proposal is a smaller, more urban one than the one submitted to the council in August by members of the Salem River Crossing Task Force. It also includes less freeway traffic, she said.

Task force members met for six years (and spent $5 million) before agreeing to recommend a $630 million bridge to city officials. Although the Salem Alternative differs from that recommendation, the price tag is about the same.

The Salem Alternative would link Wallace Road Northwest in West Salem to Pine Street Northeast on the other side of the Willamette River. It also would expand Marine Drive in West Salem to three lanes.

Public opposition to the bridge has been mounting, with yard signs saying “No 3rd Bridge” popping up on both sides over the river and critics starting their own Facebook page.

Maryann Beirne, who lives on the east side of the river in the North Salem neighborhood where part of the bridge would exist, was among the opponents who protested at the council’s June 24 meeting.

“So here we have a miserly city government penny-pinching every service to the public that they can, but when the business leaders who push growth at any cost show up, the wallet is wide open to pay for engineers and consultants and studies for five years for a bridge that the public will vote down as an unnecessary and costly project,” Beirne said.

It could be a long time, however, before Salem residents get a chance to vote on the bridge project.

Warncke said the council’s decision ends months of city-level meetings on the bridge issue.

“For the moment anyway,” she added. “Now it goes back to the regional partners. They need to provide their input. Depending on what comes out of that, Councilor Dan Clem, who serves on the regional board, is supposed to report back to the council.”

Discussions could start all over again at that point, Warncke said.