PORT ANGELES – When the Eighth Street bridges come down – one next month, one in September – some 12,000 vehicles per day will be diverted elsewhere.
That is going to create congestion, said Jim Mahlum, the city’s project engineer, at a recent open house to explain preparations.
The aging timber trestle spans are coming down to be replaced with concert girder bridges.
The $18.4 million project will end in bridges that are wider by 10 feet, and that include six-foot-wide sidewalks and pedestrian viewing points.
But construction will take out a main artery for east-west traffic in Port Angeles for at least 14 months, with the new bridges expected to open on Nov. 1 2008.
“I know people will be inconvenienced,” Glenn Cutler, city Public Works director, told about 25 people at Thursday’s open house.
“There’s no way around it.”
