PORT ANGELES — The multimillion-dollar Eighth Street bridges open today to reconnect the city’s east and west sides after 1¬½ years of detours and inconvenience.
The spans soaring over two twin ravines will open to pedestrians at 9 a.m. today.
A 2 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony at Eighth and Cherry streets followed by an emergency vehicle procession will open the concrete bridges to vehicle traffic.
The bridges — which span the two gullies in which Tumwater and Valley creeks flow — will mend Eighth Street after 1¬½ years of construction.
The 2 p.m. ceremony at Eighth and Cherry will bring city representatives along with Exeltech Consulting Inc. — the bridge project managers — and possibly personnel from Parsons, contractors on the project, city spokeswoman Teresa Pierce said.
Mayor Gary Braun will probably be the one to cut the ribbon, Pierce said.
Then a procession of police vehicles — starting with a new Dodge Charger, then followed by 1956 and 1929 police vehicles — will lead the way across both spans.
A Port Angeles Fire Department ladder truck will bring up the rear, and then traffic will be allowed to cross in both directions.
“The Charger represents the new and the others the old bridges,” Pierce said.
“This is really a once in a lifetime thing.
“I seriously doubt any of us will be around for the next bridges.”
Meet the new bridges
The concrete spans replace 70-year-old, trestle-like bridges that were built when Eighth Street was part of the Olympic Highway, predecessor to U.S. Highway 101.
The old bridges once carried Secondary State Highway 9-A traffic to Joyce and points westward until a new alignment — and a new route number, state Highway 112 — were designated in the 1960s.
The bridges and street reverted to full city jurisdiction, and their replacement became apparent when the city was forced to invoke weight limits on each span in 1999.
Pierce said that as a result of the new bridge openings, several other traffic revisions will be made beginning today, including:
• The traffic light at U.S. Highway 101 and Pine Street will be disabled and later removed.
• The traffic light at Tumwater Street and Marine Drive Traffic will be disabled.
• Barricades at the intersections of Marine Drive and Cedar Street and at First and Lincoln streets will be yanked.
• A new permanent traffic signal at the intersection of Eighth and Pine streets will go into operation.
Traffic across the two ravines has been detoured on a circuitous route throughout town since late summer 2007.
The new concrete bridges are 47 feet wide with two 12-foot lanes, two 5-foot bicycle lanes, two 6¬½-foot sidewalks and two pedestrian viewpoints.
The project — initially expected to be completed last November — cost $21.6 million in state Department of Transportation grants and city funds.
