SHINE — The Hood Canal Bridge will be reopened to marine traffic today, even if the draw span must be operated manually.
The bridge has been closed to marine traffic since the draw span slammed shut on Monday. It has remained open to vehicular traffic.
State Department of Transportation engineers said Wednesday they don’t know what is wrong.
Even though the bridge opens and closes for boats and ships passing underneath it, the question is what degree of control the automatic system has over the speed of the draw span during closure.
An inspection Tuesday did not reveal clear answers, Transportation said in a prepared statement.
“We visually inspected the mechanical and electrical drive systems and found no indications of damage or broken parts that would explain why the motors failed to power down as the draw span closed,” said Jeff Cook, project engineer.
“If we encounter problems with the automatic system, we will close the draw span by overriding the automatics and using manual control — slow but effective,” Cook said.
During a routine opening Monday afternoon of the bridge — which had a new draw span drive system installed on its east half in May and June — the draw span moved back into the closed position more quickly than it should have, causing superficial damage to the bridge.
Three months ago, following the east half replacement and before the bridge reopened to traffic, state Transportation and contractor Kiewit-General completed 20 consecutive error-free openings to meet operational standards.
Crews have opened the bridge for marine traffic about 120 times since reopening the bridge June 3 to traffic.
Although the bridge’s east half and east and west trusses were replaced in May and June, work is scheduled to continue through December 2009 as crews complete electrical, hydraulic and mechanical upgrades and make final adjustments.
For more information on the Hood Canal Bridge Project, visit www.HoodCanalBridge.com.
