PORT TOWNSEND — Gov. Chris Gregoire and dignitaries from across the North Olympic Peninsula are invited to a Hood Canal Bridge bash tentatively set for June 6, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the bridge will be open to traffic on that day.
“I can’t guarantee it will be open by June 6,” said Scott Ireland, state Department of Transportation construction manager for the project to replace the east half of the bridge.
“There’s a possibility” it may be open then, he said. “But I can’t say that now.”
A celebration date had to be picked to begin planning, said Becky Hixson, project spokeswoman, on Tuesday.
“We decided to pick a date, whether the bridge is done or not, because we didn’t know how to get the people there we want to at the last minute,” Hixson said.
The event is tentatively planned to start that Saturday morning at Salsbury Point County Park, off state Highway 3 near Port Gamble, with a panoramic view of the new floating bridge link.
It would spill over to Port Townsend in the afternoon to celebrate the $500 million project.
On the date tentatively set for the bridge bash, many events are planned in Port Townsend, including Welcome Peninsula Neighbors, said Christina Pivarnik, city marketing director.
“We are welcoming our Peninsula neighbors on June 6,” she said.
“It will happen whether the bridge is open or not, but we’d like to expand the celebration if the bridge is open — which we hope it will be.”
Completion date
The original deadline for contractor Kiewit General to complete the work was 42 working days — seven days a week — from 12:01 a.m. May 1, when the bridge was closed, Hixson said.
That meant the completion date was June 12.
But that date has changed to June 15 because of delays created by the weather, she and Ireland said.
“As of today, there have been 3 º unworkable days . . . due to wind in excess of 30 mph,” Ireland said.
“We’re trying to make up the time now. It’s important for us to get this bridge open as soon as possible,” Ireland said.
Contractor Kiewit General has an incentive to finish the work early. Transportation will pay the company a bonus of $75,000 a day for up to eight days for completing the bridge early.
If the company is late, it will pay the state $75,000 for each day’s delay, up to a maximum of $1 million.
With the weather days added in, the operative date now is June 15, Ireland said.
“Incentives or liquidated damages are adjusted accordingly. It works both ways,” he said.
Ireland said he hopes to have a better idea of an opening date by the end of this week.
“We’re now joining the pontoons together,” he said Tuesday. “We can’t do it in winds in excess of 15 mph . . . That’s why I can’t commit to a day.”
But the weather forecast is promising for the rest of the week, he said, so he hopes to have a better idea of an opening day by Friday.
Celebration details
At the celebration at Salsbury Point County Park in Kitsap County, Transportation officials will recognize community leaders and the bridge contractor, as well as welcome regional elected officials, Hixson said.
Chimacum High School band is expected to perform for the ceremony. Tentatively, a “chef’s showcase” from Peninsula restaurants and caterers is planned to promote the “Olympic culinary loop,” Hixson said.
Pivarnik is helping the state plan the event.
“Port Townsend has offered to host a bridge-opening celebration,” Pivarnik said.
“The goal is to include as many Peninsula neighbors as we possibly can. We’re hoping to have dignitaries and electeds from Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks — really across the whole Peninsula. The invitation is wide open.
“All we’re doing is tossing around ideas right now.”
Tentatively scheduled for the Port Townsend celebration is Mayor Michelle Sandoval welcoming visitors, hopefully the governor and Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond among them, Pivarnik said.
Already planned
Already planned for that Saturday is the Classic Mariners Regatta on Port Townsend Bay, featuring wooden sailing vessels at noon, the Port Townsend Farmers Market uptown from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the 5:30 p.m. Gallery Walk.
The Jefferson County Historical Society will open its new exhibit on Native American baskets at historic City Hall, 540 Water St.
The grand opening of the Port Townsend Visitor Information Center also is planned that Saturday.
Diane Shostak, Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau executive director, who chairs the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission, is working with Pivarnik and state officials on planning.
Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission is a partnership of the chambers of commerce and tourism marketing entities from the Hood Canal to the Olympic Coast.
Hixson said Hammond will attend and is urging the governor to attend.
“We want participation from Mason, Kitsap, Jefferson and Clallam counties,” she said.
“This is for us to say thank you to them and for them to celebrate the project that is unique to all the world.”
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
