PORT ANGELES — After 1¬½ years of disruption of a major arterial through town, some four months of delays, and $24.6 million, the two bridges linking Eighth Street will open on Tuesday.
The bridges — which span the two ravines where the Tumwater and Valley creeks flow — will open to pedestrians at about 9 a.m.
It will open to vehicles at 2 p.m., after a brief ceremony at the intersection of Eighth and Cherry streets.
“Around City Hall, we are all celebrating,” said Port Angeles city spokeswoman Teresa Pierce, as she announced the reopening date on Friday.
“I don’t care if they have a procession,” said Steven Bridge, owner of three businesses between the two bridges — an area that has been isolated since work began.
“Just give me my traffic back.”
Traffic across the two ravines has been rerouted throughout town since 70-year-old wooden spans were demolished to allow them to be replaced by concrete structures.
The Tumwater Creek bridge was closed on Aug. 20, 2007. Its twin, the Valley Creek bridge, was closed on Sept. 24, 2007.
The new concrete bridges ¬– which are 47 feet wide with two 12-foot lanes, two 5-foot bicycle lanes, two 6.5-foot sidewalks and two pedestrian viewpoints — replace the former trestle bridges built in 1936.
The project — initially expected to be completed last November — cost $21.6 million in state Department of Transportation grants and $3 million in city funds.
Glenn Cutler, city public works director, said on Saturday that the construction cost of the concrete bridges is between $18 million and $20 million.
The additional costs are of design and construction management, which is shared by the city and DOT, he said.
The city began planning for replacing the trestle bridges in 2003.
The new bridges were originally going to be made out of steel, but the design was changed because of the rising costs of that material.
Steel bridges would have raised construction costs over the $20 million limit for construction that was set by DOT.
Banner and first vehicles
Pierce said that, during the Tuesday ceremony, a long paper banner made by children in the city’s recreation programs will be cut to signal the opening of the bridges to vehicle traffic.
She said on Friday that it hadn’t been determined who will speak.
The first vehicles over the bridges will be a 1956 Los Angeles police car — offered by Sequim resident George Marsh — and the city’s newest police car and fire truck that will drive across the bridges from the ceremony.
The point is to represent the past and the present, Pierce said.
More work, more money
Although the bridges will be open, the work isn’t finished.
Since about the beginning of the year, the opening of the bridges has been delayed by concrete sealer application, and addition of a railing.
The railing was finished earlier this month.
Application of sealer — which protects the concrete from moisture and ensures easier removal of graffiti — still must be completed.
Applying the sealer requires a minimum air temperature of 35 degrees, less than 85 percent humidity and a dew point of no more than five points more than the minimal air temperature.
Completing the sealer-work with good weather will take about 10 days.
One bridge will be closed at a time while that is done — probably in late spring or early summer.
Cutler said on Friday that Parsons and the city agreed late Thursday afternoon to open the bridges before crews from Long Painting of Kent finish painting the sealer onto the bridges.
Doing so requires the city to modify its contract with Parsons.
Modifying the contract will cost the city $10,000, Cutler said.
Cutler said Parsons will cover any costs over that figure. He added that the additional costs will exceed $10,000.
“We’re sharing in the effort to get the bridges open,” he said.
Cutler said changes to Parsons’ contract have not been finalized.
The City Council will have to approve of the changes to the contract even though the bridges will open before its next meeting.
Cutler said he expects a contract amendment to be available for council consideration at its March 17 meeting.
Earlier delay
Before the sealer held up bridge work, delay was prompted by poor soil on the west side of the Tumwater Creek bridge, Cutler said in November.
That required a redesign of a foundation abutment that resulted in extending the contract with Parsons RCI Inc. of Sumner for 45 working days at a cost of $90,000.
Cutler said the city will also have to increase the cost of its contract with the project manager, Exeltech Consulting, Inc., because the project has gone on longer than anticipated.
But completing the sealer-work later this year will not require any additional cost to Exeltech’s contract because the company will not be on site during that time, he said.
Cutler said a figure has not been determined.
The city’s contract with Exeltech is for $1.94 million.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
