PORT ANGELES — The Elwha River Bridge on U.S. Highway 101 west of Port Angeles will be closed to all traffic between 8:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. today.
Crews working for the state Department of Transportation will remove equipment and a work platform in the Elwha River. Crews used this equipment to perform drilling associated with design work on a new Elwha River Bridge.
Motorists are advised to use State Routes 112 and 113 as a detour during the closure.
Drivers also are advised that the two-hour time frame is approximate and depends on work progress.
Bridge engineers are designing a new bridge on a new alignment to replace the 90-year-old bridge.
The new bridge is expected to be 36-feet-wide with 12-foot lanes for vehicles and 6-foot pedestrian lanes.
The estimated cost is about $29.5 million.
The effort to replace the 90-year-old bridge began in October after officials discovered the two bridge piers sat atop gravel and not bedrock.
The now-wild river was eating away at the riverbed under the bridge.
Transportation crews surrounded the piers with rip rap and plan to add more.
The last inspection in May found that the bridge was stable.
Transportation continues to monitor the bridge remotely, it said.
