North Olympic Peninsula travelers planning to venture east this week should take note of disruptions in service on both the Hood Canal Bridge and the ferry between Port Townsend and Keystone.
There will be no ferry service on the Port Townsend-Keystone route next weekend — Saturday and next Sunday, Jan.10.
Three daytime closures are scheduled this week on the Hood Canal Bridge.
The Steilacoom II — the only ferry on the route — will under go a required annual inspection on those days.
Travelers can take the Edmonds-Kingston and the Mukilteo-Clinton ferries between the Peninsula and Whidbey Island.
To get to Edmonds, it is necessary to cross the Hood Canal Bridge on state Highway 104.
At least 40 minutes
Those who plan to drive across the Hood Canal Bridge should know that it is scheduled to be closed for at least 40 minutes during one test each day on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The bridge is scheduled to be closed to traffic on:
• Monday at 2:40 p.m.
• Wednesday at 9 a.m.
• Thursday at 9 a.m.
No daytime closures are scheduled for Tuesday or Friday.
The closures are for tests that last 40 minutes, but the delay for travelers can stretch longer than that because of backed-up traffic.
No nighttime test openings — which can require 90-minute bridge closures between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., with no advance notice of individual closures — are scheduled next week.
No advance notice
Bridge openings for marine vessels, which are from 40 minutes to an hour, still will occur as needed. No advance notice is given.
The state Department of Transportation warns of an expectation of a heavy traffic as people return from holiday vacations.
The scheduled daytime drawspan openings allow the testing of the ballast in pontoons of the floating bridge to ensure that both the new east side and the west side retrofit work together, Transportation engineers have said.
The testsare timed to coincide with slack tides.
Scheduled closures are listed online at www.hood canalbridge.com.
Text-message alerts about bridge closures can be received by signing up online at the same Web site.
To find out if the bridge is open, dial 5-1-1, or phone toll free at 800-419-9085.
Neither phone number will provide advance notice of closures.
