PORT TOWNSEND — The last stage of work to make seismic upgrades to the Coupeville ferry terminal will prompt the temporary suspension of service on the Port Townsend/Coupeville route Saturday, Nov. 5, and Sunday, Nov. 6.
Sailings between Port Townsend and Coupeville are scheduled to resume at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7, but reservations are blocked that day in case unplanned delays require work to extend past Sunday night, Washington State Ferries said.
The ferry system has blocked vehicle reservations for the Port Townsend/Coupeville route Nov. 5 and 6.
Last month, Washington State Ferries began work to make eight in-water columns at the Coupeville ferry terminal safer in an earthquake.
During the upcoming closure, crews contracted with the state ferry service will temporarily dismantle and seismically reinforce the columns supporting the towers that raise and lower the 15-foot-wide movable bridge used to connect docked ferries to the terminal.
Final phase
These repairs are the last stage of work on this project.
“This last phase of work requires us to shut down the only available slip at the Coupeville terminal,” said Lynne Griffith, assistant secretary for the Washington State Ferries division.
“There’s never a good time to suspend service on a ferry route, but closing it for a weekend allows us to finish the repairs outside of the workweek and in time for Veterans Day travel.”
During the closure, Port Townsend/Coupeville customers can use the Edmonds/Kingston, Mukilteo/Clinton and Seattle/Bainbridge ferries as alternate routes.
Customers traveling on those routes should expect longer wait times, the ferry service said, adding that Twitter and ferry travel alerts with wait-time information will be sent throughout the weekend.
The ferry route is now a one-boat route, with two-boat service curtailed beginning Oct. 11.
It now has 10 sailings daily between Coupeville and Port Townsend, as opposed to the 15 scheduled sailings that were previously available.
