Hood Canal Bridge To Be Closed This Weekend
A second closure is scheduled from 8 p.m. Sunday Aug. 21 through 4 a.m. Thursday Aug. 25.
Both closures are to facilitate replacement of the high rises connecting to the floating bridge.
On the average weekday, 15,000 cars move across the Hood Canal bridge. On the weekend, it's 20,000.
This coming weekend: none.
Business on the Olympic Peninsula is expected to drop 20 percent. But there's been a lot of warning. At the Chimacum café, they expect to see fewer breakfast, lunches and dinners. But Dee Duncan says it's only three days: "We'll survive."
The locals say they'll show up for food.
Right now, they come from all over -- Iowa, Utah, Oregon. Closing the bridge could affect tourism. That's fine with cafe regular George Hill: "I hope so, yeah. Get them the hell out of here. Get them back to Seattle."
The Chambers of Commerce are more concerned. They suggest getting there isn't that bad, and the scenery is spectacular if you drive around on Highway 101. The Chambers have also arranged foot-ferry service for both closure periods.
Also, the ferry system will add service to the Port Townsend/ Keystone route. Service will begin at 4:45 a.m. from Port Townsend and last until 12:30 a.m. from Keystone on the days the bridge is closed.
The ferry system also plans to place a second large vessel on the Seattle/Bremerton route during the closure, moving the M/V Spokane from Edmonds and replacing it with a smaller 130-car Issaquah-class ferry. That will allow greater capacity to those who want to take the SR-106 alternate route through Bremerton.
The state doesn't want to kill tourism either. At first, there was talk of a year-long closure. So, the state came up with a better idea: Build the new bridge alongside the old bridge.
Then, they'll jack up the old bridge and slide it to the south onto a specially built pier. And then slide the new one in -- sort of like replacing a refrigerator, except it's on pylons 50 feet in the air.
The new bridge weighs 3,800 tons. Contractors say with 12 500-tons capacity rollers, they can slide the bridge into place.
George Allison of Kiewit Construction says: "When you steer your car, you want it to go straight ahead. Well, we want the bridge to go straight ahead and not be turning on the rollers, get the rollers off track." For that reason, the bridge will move just a few feet, and then everything will be checked and then it will be moved again.
Don't worry, they say, it can't fall.
If you feel you've got to see this, you won't see much. A snail moves faster than the bridge will -- about 5-to10 feet an hour.
John Wynands of the Washington State Department of Transportation told KOMO 4 News: "We are doing everything we can, with Kiewit, to make sure this is not exciting. We do not want this to be an exciting event. This needs to be boring."
The state says if everything is boring, if it goes like clockwork, they may be able to get traffic back on the bridge sometime Sunday.
The estimated time to drive around using Highways 3 and 101 is three to four hours.
For More Information:
Specifics on the closure periods -- www.hoodcanalbridge.com
Ferry Times -- www.portangeles.org
More on Added Keystone/Port Townsend Ferries -- www.wsdot.wa.gov.