SHINE — The Hood Canal Bridge will be closed intermittently between 10 p.m. tonight and 4 a.m. Friday for construction work.
Crews working for the state Department of Transportation will open the bridge to traffic several times to ease congestion. The traffic openings will be unscheduled and performed as workloads allow.
The closures will begin 60 minutes ahead of the standard series of night closures that usually begin at 11 p.m. Tonight’s closures begin earlier to allow critical measurements to be taken ahead of unfavorable tides, Transportation said.
The closure could mean that delivery of the Peninsula Daily News will be delayed. The newspapers are printed in Everett and brought back over the bridge in the early morning hours.
Contractor crews are replacing the Hood Canal Bridge’s gear boxes and hydraulic hoses, and adjusting and aligning the guide rollers that are responsible for operating the drawspan for marine traffic.
Transportation awarded the $5.2 million project to Northbank Civil and Marine Inc. in October. Work for the year is expected to be completed this fall, possibly within the next couple of weeks, according to Claudia Bingham Baker, communications manager for Transportation. It will then resume next spring and be finished entirely next year.
Drivers can get information at www.wsdot.com/traffic/hoodcanal.
