The state Transportation Department has changed the closure dates for the Hood Canal Bridge this summer to one weekend and one weekday period in August.
Under the new, revised plan, the bridge would be closed for a total of about 6½ days.
The plan remains tentative pending a review by the bridge rebuilding contractor, Kiewit-General Construction Co. of Poulsbo, which is replacing the floating bridge’s ends that connect it to Jefferson and Kitsap shores.
A final decision will be made by late June.
The revised plan is based on new citizen input received via questionnaires, on online survey and a telephone poll, Transportation officials said.
Here are the new proposed dates:
* The first closure, to replace the approach on the Kitsap side, would begin at 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, and end before 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 15.
* The second closure, to replace the Jefferson approach, would begin at 10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, and end by 5 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 25.
‘Spreading the pain’
Jefferson County Fair is the largest event planned on the North Olympic Peninsula during the first weekend closure, said Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager.
“It’s spreading the pain around,” said Caldwell, who along with Russ Veenema, Port Angeles chamber executive director, and the Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Group worked with state Department of Transportation officials to gain public opinion.
The closures also will coincide with a model steamboat convention in Port Angeles and Port Angeles Heritage Days, Veenema said.
About 1,000 questionnaires and surveys were completed.
The results showed 49 percent of respondents preferred weekend closures, while 35 percent wanted a weekday closure.
Washington State Ferries schedules, low tide warnings and regional festival schedules also were considered in selecting closure dates.
Transportation and Kiewit General originally proposed Friday through Tuesday closures Aug. 5 to Aug. 9 and Aug. 26 to Aug. 30.
The bridge closures are needed to replace each end of the bridge with a new roadway now under construction next to the existing roadway.
