Its steel girders are so corroded in places that state bridge inspectors no longer want to drive their heavy vehicles across the 500-foot span.
The one-way Elwha River Bridge has seen better days since Portland Bridge Co. built it in 1900.
Clallam County Road Department officials now believe the time is right to decide on the bridge’s future.
Should it be replaced or removed?
Road Department officials told county commissioners Monday that the one-lane bridge could be replaced with a concrete, two-lane span at a price of $5 million.
The alternative: tear it down.
Federal transportation dollars would fund 80 percent of the replacement project, leaving the county to come up with $1 million at a time when it’s strapped with a $1.8 million deficit.
“The bridge needs to be removed or replaced, and we need to decide which way to go,” county Public Works Director Craig Jacobs told the commissioners at a work session Monday.
————–
