State transportation officials are reviewing a North Olympic Peninsula marketing group’s request for midweek Hood Canal Bridge traffic closures this summer to stanch a multimillion-dollar loss in tourism revenues.
“At this point everything is being looked at and reviewed,” said Lloyd Brown, state Department of Transportation Olympic Region communications manager, on Tuesday.
Brown said it could be as long as two months before the bridge contractor, Kiewit-General Construction Co., will know its work schedule.
While Brown said, “I would be very surprised if midweek would become an option,” he added it is ultimately up to the contractor.
Poulsbo-based Kiewit-General holds the $204 million contract to rehabilitate the west half of the floating bridge, and replace the older eastern half.
The latter effort has been delayed because of the discovery of Native American burials and artifacts on the Port Angeles property on which pontoons and anchors for the new half were to be built.
Summertime closures
The summertime closures — two 78-hour periods — are related to improvements in preparation for the east-half replacement and west-half widening.
Midweek closures, Brown said, would force rerouting commerce and people needing medical attention between the North Olympic Peninsula and the Puget Sound area.
Russ Veenema, Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce executive director, met Monday with Doug MacDonald, state secretary of transportation, and Randy Hain, Olympic Region administrator, to discuss when to close the bridge.
MacDonald and Hain were in Port Angeles on Monday with four members of the state Transportation Commission for a community meeting on the construction shutdown on Port Angeles Harbor and the future of the rediscovered Klallam village known as Tse-whit-zen.
“I think its definitely a possibility,” Veenema said Tuesday of midweek bridge closures.
Tourism consortium
Olympic Peninsula Joint Marketing Partners has formally recommended to state officials that midweek bridge closures be considered this summer to avoid an estimated $5.8 million loss in potential tourism revenue.
The group explained its concerns in a letter sent last week to Hain.
“We understand this is contrary to standard DOT policy regarding road closures, but the Olympic Peninsula tourism industry is the primary reason traffic counts dramatically increase on weekends,” the letter states.
State officials claim that weekend closures are preferred because studies have shown that commercial trucking operators and patients needing medical attention in Kitsap and King counties depend on the bridge during weekdays.
The marketing partners include chambers of commerce and tourism-promotion agencies from Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles and Forks.
The group met two weeks ago in Sequim, concluding that it should seek weekday closures.
The weekdays suggested by the tourism group were May 16-19 and May 23-26 as the first choice.
Second choice was June 13-16 and June 20-23. Third choice was Sept. 19-22 and Sept. 26-29.
State transportation officials have proposed two 78-hour weekend closures, Aug. 5-7 and Sept. 9-11.
Boat festival conflict
The group’s letter to Hain states, as an example, that the state’s proposed Sept. 9-11 closure date is on a weekend that “draws over 15,000 visitors to the annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.”
The tourism group’s suggested closure dates “will minimize the negative impacts our region will face.”
Educating North Olympic Peninsula residents about the closures so they can plan well in advance is the group’s intent, the letter states.
Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager, said he has received some comments from Port Townsend-area residents asking not to close the bridge during the week.
For now, Caldwell said, “I’m thinking let’s get some dates so we can work around it and market it. . . .
“We need to get in a room with the contractors and mitigators and hammer out some dates.”
Brown encourages Peninsula residents to send Transportation officials e-mail messages regarding weekend vs. weekday closures at hoodcanalbridge.com (see accompanying box).
