Date:  Monday, July 20, 2009

Contact: Joe Irwin, WSDOT Communications, 253-305-6412

SHINE – Ongoing anchor connections on the east half of new SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge surpassed the 50 percent mark late last week. WSDOT and crews from contractor Kiewit-General of Poulsbo finished the 12th of 20 connections Friday, keeping this portion of the project on schedule for completion in early September.

“One of our biggest goals of the project was achieved June 3 when we reopened the bridge to travelers,” said Dave Ziegler, Hood Canal Bridge Project Principal Engineer. “While making the anchor connections was not something that had to be completed in order to accomplish this, the work we’re doing is necessary to ensure the structure has additional stability for the coming winter weather – and well into the future.”

WSDOT is using a combination of divers and remotely-operated vehicles to help run the anchor cables from the pontoons through huge u-shaped pipes in the 1,000-ton anchors, and back up to the pontoons to complete the connections.

The three-inch diameter steel cables – which range from approximately a quarter mile to one mile in length – provide a stronger, more stable connection to the new east-half anchors that were placed at the bottom of Hood Canal in the summer of 2007.

Anchor cable connections don’t require bridge closures for drivers, but have required the contractor to reduce the width of shoulders in some sections of the bridge. The work also necessitates periodic closures of the draw span pontoons, limiting when some marine travelers can pass through the bridge’s center channel.

WSDOT replaced the Hood Canal Bridge’s east half and east and west trusses June 3, but the project is scheduled to continue through December 2009 as crews make connections to new east-half anchors, complete electrical upgrades, and make final adjustments. For more information on the Hood Canal Bridge Project, please visit http://www.hoodcanalbridge.com/. 

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