PORT ANGELES — The new Eighth Street bridges to be built across Tumwater and Valley creeks will be made of steel.
The City Council made the decision of steel over concrete unanimously at its Tuesday night meeting based upon steel’s lower overall costs, including painting, inspection, repaving, demolition and salvage.
Building the new bridges from steel also means the estimated construction period will be 63 weeks instead of 82, said Exeltech Consulting Inc. of Olympia.
Project director Santosh Kuruvilla from Exeltech told council members that the traffic restriction costs are higher for concrete because the construction period is 20 weeks longer.
The economic impact of that longer construction period was analyzed but not specifically included in cost estimates, he said.
Steel’s cheaper, too
The total cost of steel bridges will be $8.48 million each, including $1.26 million for design, $5.45 million for construction, $683,000 for traffic restrictions, and $1.08 million for 75-year maintenance costs.
The total cost of concrete bridges would have been $9.13 million each, including $1.26 million for design, $6.01 million for construction, $841,000 for traffic restrictions, and $1.01 million for 75-year maintenance costs.
Kuruvilla said new coatings stretch the need for repainting a steel bridge to up to 50 years.