SHINE — More delays lie ahead for drivers on the Hood Canal Bridge after testing found that the west-half hydraulic system is not working correctly.
“While conducting functional testing of the hydraulic systems, we were able to identify this issue before it became an operational problem,” Kevin Dayton, state Department of Transportation region administrator, said Thursday.
“Unfortunately, this testing phase has also caused unplanned and unexpected delays for travelers.”
After the floating bridge’s east-half replacement project was completed ahead of schedule in early June, travelers over the bridge experienced months of scheduled daytime delays.
Traffic was stopped for 40 minutes or more each time to permit tests of the ballast in retrofitted west-half draw span pontoons.
That was in addition to unscheduled 90-minute closures of the bridge for nighttime tests and other delays waiting for boats to sail through the opened draw span, which also were unscheduled.
The last construction-related scheduled daytime closing was Jan. 28.
Transportation said then that the nighttime closures would continue for another three weeks.
Marine closures will always be part of the experience of traveling on the bridge.
They are unscheduled because of federal homeland security regulations to protect Navy traffic.
Now, more testing — and delays — are expected.
Completion of the west-half project depends on “how soon we can identify and resolve the hydraulic issue,” said Joe Irwin, Hood Canal Bridge project spokesman.
“Once we have done both, we estimate we’ll need about six nights for functional testing and three nights for final draw span tests to complete our project work.”
Drivers may experience sporadic daytime diagnostic test openings of up to 10 minutes, officials said.
Weeknight test openings of up to 90 minutes between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. are also expected until completion.
Transportation will provide at least 24 hours notice prior to nighttime closures, officials said.
Whenever possible and to reduce the impact on motorists, openings will be timed to occur during marine vessel openings, they said.
Now at $519 million
The bridge project is now budgeted at $519 million.
Irwin said it was difficult to gauge how much bridge contractor Kiewit-General of Poulsbo will be paid to repair the lift-span problem “because we’re still working to identify the root of the problem.”
Engineers on Thursday were trying to determine why the rear hydraulic lifts of all three structures that make up the west-half draw span were operating more slowly than the front lifts.
“We know what the problem is — the rear lift spans on the west-half are operating slower than the front lift spans because the hydraulic systems are producing different pressures — but not what’s causing it,” Irwin said.
Irwin said Kiewit-General had installed components to specifications “and did everything they were supposed to do.”
Original schedule
After the bridge reopened in June, the retrofit project to install matching mechanical components on the west half was originally scheduled to be completed in December.
That changed when Transportation officials announced that west-half retrofit and ballasting work faced more hurdles before it could be completed.
Transportation and Kiewit-General were then scheduled to complete daytime ballast tests by mid-January.
Final testing work by contractor Kiewit-General was scheduled to wrap up by the end of February.
West-half functional testing is about 50 percent finished, Transportation officials said.
There are three lift spans located on both halves of the bridge.
They are the sections that serve as the grated roadway near the center spans and rise about nine feet so that the draw span pontoons can retract to open a channel for marine vessels passing through, or during heavy winds and seas to relieve pressure on the more than mile-long structure.
The ballast work completed in January required Transportation and Kiewit-General to adjust the freeboard of the 496-foot-long, 60-foot-wide, 21-foot-tall pontoon section to within fractions of an inch.
Adjustments to the 28.5-million pound draw span were time-consuming and had to occur at slack tide during the daylight hours, Transportation officials said.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
