SHINE — Traffic was backed up for miles after a semi truck jack-knifed mid-span on the Hood Canal Bridge, closing it in both directions for more than seven hours Friday night.
The single-vehicle wreck occurred at 3:12 p.m. Friday and the bridge was reopened to traffic at 10:35 p.m., according to the state Department of Transportation.
The truck damaged a section of a barrier on the bridge and also did some damage to the bridge deck, according to Mark Krulish, DOT spokesman. Permanent reapirs will be needed, he said.
A section of the barrier was displaced along with the guardrail, Krulish said.
There was also damage to the bridge deck itself, he said.
“We had maintenance crews come up from Shelton with a temporary barrier, which was then installed as a step to reopen the bridge,” Krulish said in an email.
“Once the barrier was in place, our Hood Canal Bridge crew had to perform a test opening to ensure the bridge was fully operational and could open as normal,” he said.
Responders also dealt with the concern of a fuel spill as the truck’s fuel tank had been damaged. In the end, it was possible to simply pump the fuel, but although tow trucks showed up at about 4:30 p.m., the truck was not towed for some time after that, according to Krulish.
“Some of the long delay can also be attributed to the fact that it took time for our maintenance and bridge preservation crews to arrive as we had lengthy backups on both sides of the bridge,” Krulish said.
“Our preservation crew also had to take time to inspect the structure of the bridge as well in the area that had been damaged.
No one was injured in the wreck, which, according to a State Patrol tweet, was due to wind, but traffic was backed up for several miles, according to sources.
