SHINE — Travelers are encouraged to plan for three nights this week when the Hood Canal Bridge will stay closed to vehicles all night long.
As construction crews work on the span, the bridge will be closed:
• 11 p.m. Tuesday through 4 a.m. Wednesday.
• 11 p.m. Wednesday through 4 a.m. Thursday.
• 11 p.m. Thursday through 4 a.m. Friday.
There may be unscheduled times, when work allows, that the bridge will open to travelers. And the work could be rescheduled altogether due to weather, according to the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
The closures are to allow construction crews to bolster the bridge’s center lock, an element similar to a door’s deadbolt.
The lock needs strengthening, DOT said, so it can better withstand tremendous forces, especially during powerful winter storms and tides.
Crews also will make permanent repairs to another system: the twin metallic objects shaped like pyramids on one half of the bridge, which help guide the bridge into dual receivers on the second half.
Workers will temporarily remove both pyramids and their metal plates and then reinstall them using industrial-sized bolts, DOT said.
Last winter, maintenance crews made temporary repairs on these elements; this year contractor crews are finishing permanent repairs.
For more information, see Hoodcanalbridge.com.
