SHINE — A pilot project restricting Hood Canal Bridge openings for pleasure boats will begin Friday.
The bridge won’t open for any vessel not part of the U.S. Navy between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. daily from Friday through Sept. 30.
The Coast Guard test program is intended to provide reliability to those traveling over the bridge, which connects Jefferson and Kitsap counties, giving residents some assurance they can freely come and go between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
About half the vessels that prompt openings of the bridge — thus closing it to vehicular traffic — are Navy vessels, including submarines from Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor.
Navy vessels aren’t included in the pilot program and will continue to prompt bridge openings as needed.
If at least one hour’s notice is given, the bridge opens for boats that are too large or tall to pass under its trusses.
It can take more than a half-hour to open and close the bridge.
The delay backs up vehicles on the two-lane highway — which also snarls Kitsap residents’ access to driveways and cross streets.
Summer is the busiest time for closures because more pleasure boats are on Hood Canal.
Last June, the bridge opened 29 times — 16 for recreational boats, 12 for Navy vessels and one for a test.
It opened 48 times in July — 22 for pleasure craft, 19 for Navy vessels, two for commercial boats and five for tests.
Only eight July openings occurred between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., and five of them were for Navy vessels.
The Coast Guard is accepting public comment on the pilot program through Nov. 30.
Comments on the program can be submitted at www.regulations.gov.
Click on the box marked “Submit a comment,” which will then become highlighted in blue.
In the keyword box, insert “USCG-2011-0314,” click “Search” and then click on the balloon shape in the “Actions” column on the lower right.
