Posted By Wilson Criscione on Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 1:58 PM

click to enlarge rendering courtesy of City of Spokane

and

The city of Spokane wants to name the pedestrian and bicycle bridge, called to this point the University District Gateway Bridge, something a little less, well, pedestrian.The bridge connects Spokane's University District near downtown to the East Sprague area. Construction has halted for the winter, but the city expects the bridge to be finished in 2018.In a news release, the city says it is looking for names that "will stand the test of time." If the bridge is to be named after a person, the city is asking that it's someone who has made an "outstanding contribution" to the city and someone who has been a resident of the city of Spokane. If it's a political nominee, they must have been retired from political office for at least five years. Your "bridge to Hookerville" jokes won't make the cut, though I'm sure they're very funny.Both the University District and the East Sprague neighborhood have been going through somewhat of a transformation in recent years . The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine opened in U-District earlier this year, which has helped spur private development in the area, like a 140,000-square-foot building from Avista to be used for bioscience.On the other side of the bridge, the city recently completed a $4.3 million rehabilitation project of East Sprague, and the area is attracting new apartments and new restaurants.To submit an idea, all you have to do is post the proposed name for the bridge on Facebook, Twitter or Instagramtag @spokanecity. Include a brief explanation of the name — what it means to you and its relevance to Spokane. Or, go to the city's announcement online calling for submissions and write the suggestion in the comments.The deadline to name the bridge is the end of the month, January 31, 2018.