Date:  Monday, July 28, 2008

Contact: Joe Irwin, WSDOT Communications, 253-305-6412 
              Becky Hixson, WSDOT Communications, 253-305-6450

SHINE – The SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge will close to traffic twice during the next two weeks, allowing WSDOT and contractors from Kiewit-General (K-G) to conduct ballasting operations on the west half pontoons. Crews will add water to the interior cells of the pontoons to lower their position in the canal.

Closures are scheduled from 2-2:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 31 and Thursday, Aug. 7. During the 30-minute closures WSDOT and K-G crews will test the bridge’s west draw span to ensure it will match up correctly with the new east-half draw span assembly when it is installed in May-June 2009.

The draw span preparation work is another sign of progress on the Hood Canal Bridge Project, which is presently 80 percent complete.

“We know highway closures are inconvenient for drivers, especially on the Hood Canal Bridge, so we appreciate their patience as we work to ready the bridge for its new east half,” said Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. “The good news is that we are nearly finished with pontoon construction and we’re closing in our wrapping this project up next summer,”

The last of the 14 new pontoons will leave Concrete Technology Corporation in Tacoma later this week. The new east half of the bridge will be floated into place next spring, closing the bridge to traffic from May to June 2009. The completed bridge will be safer and more reliable. For more information, visit www.HoodCanalBridge.com.

                                            # # #

< Back to News Home