SHINE — Kay Thoreson, who frequently drives between her Port Townsend and Seattle homes, is among those frequent car ferry travelers who has noticed a growing number of Hood Canal Bridge openings since the five-week project in May and June replaced the floating structure’s east half.
A state Department of Transportation spokesman said the increase in bridge openings can be blamed on work under way since the bridge reopened in June, and that fewer such delays are expected now that summer has ended.
The work involves retrofitting the bridge’s west half to match mechanical systems and other components on the new east half.
Additional bridge draw-span opens is a problem that backs up traffic for miles at the Jefferson and Kitsap County ends of the 1.5 mile-long floating structure.
“Your one-hour trip to the ferry dock might be one hour or two hours more,” said Thoreson.
She recalled being stuck at the end of a six-mile-long line of vehicles on North Kitsap side, which also has a stoplight further slowing traffic at the bridge’s east end at state Highway 3.
A bridge opening for marine traffic normally takes about 45 minutes.
She said she subscribes to the state Department of Transportation’s bridge opening alert service at tiny.cc/updates797 but said that the alerts do not give motorists enough notice to plan ahead.
“They merely explain why you are already waiting in line at the bridge, which you can guess without the alert,” Thoreson said.
“It doesn’t advise you beforehand as to when the bridge may be opening so that you could decide whether or not to stop for coffee, or go home and return two hours later, only to find that it has opened again.”
Relief coming
Bridge traffic relief is close at hand, said bridge project spokesman Joe Irwin.
“With anchor cable connections wrapping up last month and the boating season winding down, Peninsula residents can expect to see less bridge openings from here on out,” Irwin said last week.
“The anchor cable connections and related work had the biggest effect on the project-related bridge closures during the summer.”
Following the east-half replacement project’s completion, bridge project officials said the west half of the bridge systems would be upgraded to match those of the east half.
They then predicted that work would take until September to complete.
72 times in July
Irwin said that, during July, the bridge opened 72 times, an estimated increase of about 25 openings over July 2008.
“Of the 72 July openings, 20 were project-related,” Irwin said. “The rest were Navy and private vessels.
“That said, I know that in order to reduce the overall number of openings, on occasion the contractor kept the bridge open longer than usual on a few of the non-project openings to complete certain work items. This resulted in larger backups than usual.”
Number for August 2008 and 2009 comparisons were not available Friday.
The line on the Highway 104 Jefferson County side of the bridge is long but relatively unimpeded by side traffic.
“The same sorts of backups occur on [state Highway] 3 in Kitsap, but they are much more challenging for motorists because there are driveways along the highway as well,” Irwin said.
“We looked into options to address the [Highway 3] issue a few years back, but found that, at this time, there just doesn’t seem to be a feasible alternative,” he added.
“The additional closures this summer have definitely shone a spotlight on the traffic around the bridge, but things will return to normal when work wraps up this year.”
Mariners call in advance
Mariners whose vessels are too large to safely travel under the trusses must contact the bridge at least an hour in advance of their expected arrival.
“They call in, our crews get ready to open and when the boaters show up, we open the bridge and close the roadway,” Irwin explained.
The state cannot control boat and ship navigation of the bridge, he said, and the state cannot alert bridge-traversing motorists farther head of the boat traffic in great part because of the Homeland Security Act, “which means, for the safety of boaters and drivers, we cannot announce bridge openings in advance.”
Text messaging alerts on cell phones are available to those who subscribe at www.wsdot.wa.gov/. The alertsinform motorists of bridge closures caused by marine openings or a traffic-blocking auto crashes.
“These alerts are sent out by our Traffic Management Center and have helped people plan whether or not they will make or delay their trips across the bridge,” Irwin said.
More than 1,000 people have signed up for this service, he said, and “while we can’t send these alerts out before the actual openings, it definitely allows us inform people about the status of the bridge.”
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.