Date:  Monday, June 22, 2009

Contact: Brenden Clarke, WSDOT Project Engineer, 360-874-3010
              Jamie Swift, WSDOT Communications, 360-357-2703

BREMERTON – The 2.5 million people who ride the Seattle to Bremerton ferry every year – as well as the increasing number of pedestrians in Bremerton’s waterfront business area – are in for a significant change starting Monday, July 6.

Starting with the 5:30 p.m. sailing from Seattle, all vehicles exiting the Bremerton ferry terminal will travel through the 959-foot-long tunnel and emerge on Burwell Street near Park Avenue.

Routing off-loading ferry traffic through the tunnel improves pedestrian safety, transit efficiency and traffic flow by eliminating a major contributor to the sometimes chaotic convergence of pedestrian, transit, local and ferry traffic in the waterfront area.

“Removing this regular stream of commuting automobiles from downtown Bremerton’s core area will have a dramatic and positive impact on the nature of our city, rendering it much less congested and much more pedestrian-friendly,” said Congressman Norm Dicks, who sought the federal funds for the tunnel project.

Tri-State Construction, Inc. built the $54 million federally funded project, which broke ground July 6, 2007 – exactly two years before opening day.

“Our contractor and our WSDOT team worked hard to minimize disruptions for the community,” said Paula Hammond, Washington Transportation Secretary. “The new tunnel will be a great asset for the community and the downtown revitalization effort.”

Opening Celebration
The community can walk through the new tunnel on July 6, just prior to the tunnel opening to vehicular traffic. A host of dignitaries, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Rep. Dicks, and Washington State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond are scheduled to attend the opening ceremony, which begins at 4:30 p.m. The public will be allowed to tour the tunnel for about 30 minutes starting at 5:20 p.m. (This should say 5 p.m.)

CORRECTION: We compressed the event timeline in the days after sending out the press release. We should have revised the online press release and made calls to the Kitsap Sun and other media to clear up the timeline. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience we caused you.

Project information online: 
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR304/BremertonTunnel/

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