PORT ANGELES — Ediz Hook will be closed to vehicle traffic from 5:30 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday for bridge repairs, forcing military personnel attached to Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles to be shuttled to their facility at the tip of the spit.
The hook, one of the city’s most beloved geographic features, will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists from Hill Street east while abutment repairs are made on a 25-foot-long, 27-foot-wide span.
Owned by the city, the bridge is adjacent to the Nippon Paper Industries USA mill and spans a former log canal that wends its way from Port Angeles Harbor to a former log pond.
Mill Manager Steve Johnson said the closure of Ediz Hook Road will not have an impact on plant operations.
“We’ll pre-supply the mill as far as any materials [goes], and with the coordination the city has done, we really don’t see any problems.”
The plant’s 160 hourly and salaried workers will park their cars on the eastern side of the bridge and walk over a pedestrian walkway to the factory.
Johnson said Nippon temporarily cut back staffing beginning last weekend to repair the turbine of its new $75 million biomass cogeneration plant.
“We have had a couple of shifts,” he said, adding that the plant will start up full-bore again tonight.
Nippon will allow Coast Guard personnel to park their cars on company property.
They will take the walkway across the log canal, then be shuttled to the base 2 to 3 miles east, Lt. Dana Warr, spokesman for the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle, said Monday.
In the event of an emergency, a city fire truck and medic-unit will be parked on the east side of the bridge, Fire Chief Ken Dubuc said Monday.
Public Works and Utilities Director Craig Fulton said Monday a plate can be laid across the bridge while it’s being repaired to allow access to other emergency vehicles if needed.
The plates could be installed “fairly quickly” if the need arises, he added.
Warr said city officials have addressed the Coast Guard’s concerns regarding the adequacy of emergency services during the shutdown.
The base has 290 personnel, none of whom live at the station.
“Obviously, our Friday night has a minimal crew, and Saturday continues to be minimal,” Warr said.
“The city is able to achieve work on the bridge, and the Coast Guard is able to maintain readiness with minimal disruption.”
The bridge, built by previous mill owner Crown Zellerbach Corp., is being undermined by soil erosion on the north side of the span closest to Nippon.
The eroded portion will backfilled as a temporary fix until 2016, when the abutments would be rebuilt under a $600,000 project in the city’s proposed capital facilities plan.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
