PORT ANGELES — Contractors on the project to reconnect both ends of Lauridsen Boulevard over Peabody Creek with a new concrete span bridge could begin work on the new bridge’s massive support piles next week, the city’s project manager for the bridge replacement said Wednesday.
This week, workers continue to remove the remnants of the 44-year-old Lauridsen Boulevard bridge from the ravine below after the bridge was felled last week, said Jeremy Pozernick, city public works inspector and the city’s project manager for the Lauridsen bridge replacement.
Work on removing the bridge debris included the contractor jackhammering the debris into smaller pieces over this past weekend, Pozernick said.
“[Weekend work is] something we’re hoping to keep on a limited basis,” Pozernick said, adding that no such work is planned this weekend.
“We’re just trying to get everything cleared out of the creek so the next stage of work can begin.”
Peabody Creek is being protected by a covering structure built with steel I-beams and 12-foot-by-12-foot timbers built to prevent concrete chunks from entering the creek, Pozernick said, adding that the platform is performing as designed.
Construction of the new Lauridsen bridge will start with Kent-based Scarsella Bros. crews drilling holes to hold the eventual 11 concrete piles that will support the new bridge, Pozernick explained.
Pozernick said he does not expect bridge construction work to take place on weekends.
Scarsella Bros. is completing the project, expected to wrap up in late January or early February, under a $4.5 million contract with the city.
A federal grant is funding 80 percent of the replacement costs, with the city taking up the remaining 20 percent.
The new bridge will include an eastbound center turn lane, two 12-foot-wide vehicle lanes and two 5-foot wide bicycle lanes, all part of a driving surface 18 feet wider than the old bridge.
The sidewalks of the new bridge, which will resemble the two Eighth Street bridges, also will be wider than those of the demolished bridge.
The bridge replacement project includes installing a new street light at the intersection of Lauridsen Boulevard and Race Street, and improving the surface of the intersection.
Detours around the closed section of Lauridsen Boulevard direct eastbound Lauridsen traffic north onto South Eunice Street, east on East Eighth Street and then south on South Race Street back to Lauridsen on the east side.
Westbound Lauridsen traffic is being directed to follow the same route in reverse.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.