The state Department of Transportation is coming closer to announcing three-day-weekend closures of the Hood Canal Bridge, and both are in August.
Tentative closure dates of Aug. 5-9 and Aug. 26-30 were announced Friday by the highway department.
The bridge’s Kitsap County side is scheduled to be worked on starting at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5, through 5 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
The Jefferson County side will receive new approaches from 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, through 5 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30.
The tentative dates are based upon project contractor Kiewit-General Construction Co.’s latest schedule update and remain subject to change, according to Friday’s announcement.
The tentative closures counter suggestions by a consortium of Clallam and Jefferson counties chambers of commerce and visitor industry groups that had requested midweek closures.
Because Kiewit-General is required to provide six weeks’ notice for bridge closures, the actual dates won’t be firmed until June.
Rolling in new spans
During the pair of 3½-day closures, Kiewit-General will place the bridge’s existing approach spans on rollers, move them out of the road alignment, then roll new, wider roads into place.
The Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Committee has lobbied Transportation for weekday closures to prevent an estimated $5.6 million loss to the area’s tourism economy by blocking traffic to the Peninsula on two summer weekends.
The group had proposed that the two closures be done during weekdays in May, June or September.
But Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald told the state Transportation Commission in Olympia last week that e-mails were running 3-to-1 against weekday bridge closures.
More meetings sought
Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager, said North Olympic Peninsula tourism officials still intend to meet with Kiewit-General and Transportation to get closure dates that aren’t in the peak tourism season.
“So we’ll see what happens what we get back to work on Tuesday,” Caldwell said.
“We hope to meet with them in the next week.
“The idea is we want to know the criteria for closing the bridge. As the announcement says, these dates are tentative.”
Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Russ Veenema echoed Caldwell in saying that tourism officials will continue their efforts for weekday bridge closures.
“In my conversations with [Olympic Region Administrator] Randy Hain and an e-mail from . . . MacDonald, there still was some willingness to discuss some tentative dates beyond those announced Friday,” Veenema said.
“So as far as I’m concerned, negotiations are still continuing.”
Road widening
Kiewit-General last year completed widening a portion of the floating bridge’s west half, installing electrical mechanical systems and beginning construction of the new approach spans.
This year, motorists will see additional west-half widening and work on the bridge approaches.
During this week, Kiewit-General has planned single-lane closures, Monday through Friday nights from 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.
The work is part of building the new support structures under the bridge’s approach spans.
Eventually, a new east half of the bridge will replace the current half — including the infamous center bulge — that has been in service since 1961.
The west half is newer, having replaced a 1961 half that sank in a fierce storm in 1979.
