SHINE — The Hood Canal Bridge will be closed most of four nights beginning Monday for repair of the western drawspan of the floating bridge.
From Monday through next Thursday, state Highway 104 over the Hood Canal Bridge will be closed to vehicle traffic from 8:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m., from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and from 1:15 a.m. to 3:45 a.m.
The repair schedule allows for only three 15-minute intervals in which motor vehicles will be allowed to cross the bridge during each seven-hour nightly closure.
The idea is to allow backed-up traffic to “flush through every two hours or so,” said Kevin Dayton, state Department of Transportation regional administrator.
“Compared to closing the bridge for seven hours a night and asking drivers to use a 130-mile detour, we feel it’s not a bad option.”
The work is weather-dependent and will carry over for more nights, if necessary, he said.
Although the eastern half of the floating bridge was replaced in 2009, the 30-year-old western half is showing signs of wear in key components of its drawspan, Dayton said.
Divots in the 1½-inch-thick steel plates running the length of the drawspan make it difficult to open the west half of the bridge.
The plates protect the pontoon’s concrete from 4-foot-diameter steel rollers, which guide the drawspan as it opens and closes.
The repairs, which must be made with the drawspan open, involve welding low spots in the guide-roller rails, Dayton said.
“The drawspan is closed 99 percent of the time, and the points where the rollers and the plate meet are exactly where the rub is taking place,” said Dayton.
“With all that grinding, it’s kind of like our bridge has developed a bad hip, and we need to repair it.”
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