Date:  Sunday, September 06, 2009

Contact: Jeff Adamson, North Central Region Communications Manager, Wenatchee, (509) 667-2815, (509) 669-8778 Cell. E-mail: adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov

WENATCHEE – While the US 97 Columbia River Bridge at Beebe will remain closed to vehicles for several more weeks, pedestrians are expected to be allowed to cross beginning Tuesday morning, Sept. 8. An Aug. 31 fatal semi-truck collision severely damaged steel trusses and beams that support the bridge, forcing its closure.

“Our immediate goal is to get the bridge open as soon as possible for bicycles and pedestrians,” said WSDOT Project Engineer Brantley Bain, “We know folks in both counties commute daily across the bridge and this closure has had a tremendous impact on their lives.” WSDOT is coordinating with the Lake Chelan School District, LINK and the Chelan County PUD Parks on both shores to provide parking and transportation. “It’s going to take a day or two to get everything in place, but initially, we’ll open the bridge to pedestrians from 6 to 8:30 a.m., then from noon to 1 o’clock and from 3:30 to 9 p.m.”, said Bain. Single file groups of no more than a dozen will be allowed across to meet weight restrictions. *Initially, LINK will provide bus service to downtown Chelan every half-hour during the hours the bridge is open to pedestrians.

A portion of the bridge deck is still noticeably sagging. Motor vehicles won’t be allowed until permanent repairs are complete, which are still anticipated to take several weeks. WSDOT Bridge Crews completed emergency stabilization work Friday afternoon, but the structure still won’t support heavy equipment. Further stabilization will be done by a contract bridge specialty firm, KLM Construction that WSDOT has hired to make the permanent repairs. The WSDOT Bridge Office in Olympia continues working around the clock on the design and work plans.

Once stabilization is complete, KLM will begin replacing the damaged trusses. "A significant portion of the work, right now, will be off-site fabrication of new parts," said Bain, "One of the biggest challenges we face is replacement of a diagonal member that was severely bent in the crash. That beam is effectively carrying half the load of the entire bridge. The contractor will need to place temporary supports on both sides of the damaged member. Once that’s done, they’ll remove half of it and splice in a new section," said Bain. That work will be slow and tedious as constant measurements will have to be taken at several locations to ensure the truss is behaving as anticipated. A crane and perhaps barges may have to be brought in to accomplish the work. “We’ll all be working seven days a week until it’s finished,” said Bain.

Pictures of the collision, structure damage and repair work can be seen on the WSDOT Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157622081917117/

The US 97 “Columbia River Bridge at Beebe” averages nearly 5,000 vehicles per day. During the closure, traffic is detoured onto US 97A through Chelan and along the west side of the Columbia River to Wenatchee. The detour doubles the amount of traffic on this route and could lead to delays.

The detour typically adds about 10 minutes to a commute between Chelan and Wenatchee. But it can add up to two hours to commuters bound for Chelan from Mc Neil Canyon, Waterville and Mansfield. Electronic message signs are in place in Wenatchee at US 97A, East Wenatchee at US 2/97, Orondo at US 2, Hugo at US 97A and Chelan at SR 150 to help direct drivers around the bridge closure. Information is also available on the Wenatchee Highway Advisory Radio (1610 AM), the WSDOT traffic and roads web site www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/trafficalerts/default.aspx?refnum=206546&action=2 and by calling 5-1-1.

The Beebe Bridge is named for the Beebe Orchard Company that built the first bridge over the Columbia at Chelan Falls to carry irrigation water to their properties on the east (Douglas County) side of the river in 1919. It also incorporated a wooden deck for motorists who paid a toll to cross.

Construction of the current bridge began in 1959 and was opened to traffic in June of 1963 at a cost $1.1 million. It is a 1,227 foot long “Steel Arch Concrete Box Girder” bridge with a 26-foot deck supporting two lanes of traffic and two 3-foot sidewalks. The Beebe Bridge was seismically retrofitted in 2000 and was determined to be in very good condition following its last structural safety inspection in 2007.

###

WSDOT keeps people, businesses and the economy moving by operating and improving the state's transportation systems. To learn more about what we're doing, including pictures, videos, news and blogs go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/news. Get real time weather, traffic, construction alerts, pass conditions, ferry, railroad, and airline information at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or dial 5-1-1. TTY users - call 1-800-833-6388. This news release is available electronically on the web at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Regions/NorthCentral/news/

*For Sept. 8 – 9, Link Transit will have a bus leaving the parking lot at Chelan Falls Park at:
• 6:30 a.m., 7 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8 a.m.
• Noon, 12:30 p.m. 1:00 p.m.
• 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 5:30p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30p.m., 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
Providing service to Chelan Wal-Mart, Hwy 97A/Woodin Way, right on Navarre/Gibson St., Left on SR 150 to Chelan Chamber, Chelan High School and back to the Chelan Falls Park.
Link Guest Services: 662-1155

< Back to News Home