OLYMPIA — E-mails to the state Department of Transportation are running 3-1 against closing the Hood Canal Bridge on weekdays, state Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald told the Transportation Commission.
Work on the bridge’s eastern and western approaches is scheduled this summer, and the bridge is set to be closed to traffic for two 78-hour periods, MacDonald said.
The closure schedule is dependent upon the contractor’s request, MacDonald said.
Poulsbo-based Kiewit-General Construction Co. holds the $204 million contract to rehabilitate the west half of the Hood Canal Bridge and replace the eastern half.
State transportation officials have proposed two 78-hour Friday-Sunday closures, Aug. 5-7 and Sept. 9-11 — the latter dates coinciding with the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.
But Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Committee has formally recommended weekday bridge closures to avoid an estimated $5.8 million loss of tourism revenue.
The weekdays suggested by the tourism group were May 16-19 and May 23-26 as the first choice.
Second choice was June 13-16 and June 20-23. Third choice was Sept. 19-22 and Sept. 26-29.
Weekend closing
But DOT officials claim weekend closures are preferable because trucking companies and Peninsula people seeking medical care in Kitsap and King counties depend upon the bridge on weekdays.
When DOT officials survey affected residents about the best time for the bridge closure, the two responses are don’t do it, and any time is the wrong time, MacDonald said.
A Wednesday Peninsula Daily News article reporting the DOT e-mail address for comment on preferred bridge closure times — orfeedback@wsdot.wa.gov — generated a lot of e-mail messages to DOT, MacDonald said.
Transportation Commission Chairman Dale Stedman of Spokane said the response points out the bridge’s importance to the North Olympic Peninsula.
E-mail responses on “weekend or weekday” will continue to be accepted through February, DOT said.
