Inspection closes sinking, cracking 520 bridge
SEATTLE - Inspections have shut down the Highway 520 floating bridge this weekend - part of an effort to keep the cracked, aging span afloat until a new bridge can be opened in 2014.
Inspectors opened the drawspan and got inside the big hollow concrete pontoons that hold up the bridge, which daily sees about 120,000 cars and trucks.
And with each passing year, they say, there are new indications of problems with this bridge, that's more like a giant barge.
Cracks in the concrete are just one of many concerns after nearly a half-century of non-stop pounding by traffic and storms.
Each of the 33 pontoons is fastened by steel rods, called post-tensioning cables, to prevent the pontoons from flexing and crumbling.
Joining the inspectors was state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. It was her first trip inside the bridge's floating pontoons.
"We're patching it together, piece by piece, to make sure it continues to float and service well," Hammond says.
While the bridge is shut down this weekend for its yearly inspection, some of the public had a chance to join the inspectors and check out the state of our of our area's most important roads.
They also learned that key support columns at the approach ramps are hollow - and extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. And that the added weight of asphalt and jersey barriers has sunk the bridge closer to the waterline.
"I wasn't really on the fence about replacement, but seeing the cracks inside the pontoons really further evidence that we need a replacement," says one of the visitors, Debbie Warnock of Capitol Hill.
Transportation Department officials say the 520 floating bridge is aging quickly, including its equipment - like the midspan drawbridge.
The new 520 bridge will not have one. But it will have something the old bridge doesn't have - tolls, starting as early as late fall of next year, to pay for the $5 billion to $7 billion-dollar replacement.
"They accepted the notion that early tolling helps buy down the cost of the investment," Hammond says. "And to have a bigger down payment on this structure was acceptable to the community."
Pontoons for the new bridge will be built starting next year in Grays Harbor County, creating an estimated 2,000 new jobs.
Meanwhile, the old bridge needs to hold on several more years before there's a giant new link over the lake.
Inspectors opened the drawspan and got inside the big hollow concrete pontoons that hold up the bridge, which daily sees about 120,000 cars and trucks.
And with each passing year, they say, there are new indications of problems with this bridge, that's more like a giant barge.
Cracks in the concrete are just one of many concerns after nearly a half-century of non-stop pounding by traffic and storms.
Each of the 33 pontoons is fastened by steel rods, called post-tensioning cables, to prevent the pontoons from flexing and crumbling.
Joining the inspectors was state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. It was her first trip inside the bridge's floating pontoons.
"We're patching it together, piece by piece, to make sure it continues to float and service well," Hammond says.
While the bridge is shut down this weekend for its yearly inspection, some of the public had a chance to join the inspectors and check out the state of our of our area's most important roads.
They also learned that key support columns at the approach ramps are hollow - and extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. And that the added weight of asphalt and jersey barriers has sunk the bridge closer to the waterline.
"I wasn't really on the fence about replacement, but seeing the cracks inside the pontoons really further evidence that we need a replacement," says one of the visitors, Debbie Warnock of Capitol Hill.
Transportation Department officials say the 520 floating bridge is aging quickly, including its equipment - like the midspan drawbridge.
The new 520 bridge will not have one. But it will have something the old bridge doesn't have - tolls, starting as early as late fall of next year, to pay for the $5 billion to $7 billion-dollar replacement.
"They accepted the notion that early tolling helps buy down the cost of the investment," Hammond says. "And to have a bigger down payment on this structure was acceptable to the community."
Pontoons for the new bridge will be built starting next year in Grays Harbor County, creating an estimated 2,000 new jobs.
Meanwhile, the old bridge needs to hold on several more years before there's a giant new link over the lake.