PORT TOWNSEND — For bed-and-breakfast inn owner John Eissinger, the time is now to prepare for Hood Canal Bridge closures this summer.
“We’re looking at putting some packages together for the periods when the bridge is closed,” said Eissinger, a Port Townsend School District board member and owner of the Blue Gull Inn at Harrison and Clay streets uptown.
The packages Eissinger has in mind would encourage visitors to stay in Port Townsend for a long weekend to avoid the bridge work closures altogether.
Eissinger was one of about 10 people who attended Tuesday night’s state Department of Transportation public information open house at The Commons at Fort Worden State Park.
The meeting, held a day after a similar one in Port Angeles, gave tourism officials, business owners and residents a chance to discuss with state Transportation representatives the proposed bridge closures and see exhibits on the bridge replacement project.
Bridge contractor Kiewit-General Construction Co. propose Friday through Tuesday closures Aug. 5-9 and Aug. 26-30 so workers can roll in new bridge approaches to the floating span at each end.
Port Townsend City Councilwoman Laurie Medlicott attended Tuesday night’s meeting as a member of the city’s transportation committee and as chairwoman of the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee.
She is also on the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization board.
Medlicott said the closures are going to happen regardless, so Port Townsend and other county residents have no choice but to prepare for it.
“It beats the alternative — and the alternative is the bridge falls down,” Medlicott said.
“There is no right answer.”
Medlicott said she was more concerned about the eight-week closure of the bridge to replace the span’s eastern half.
State transportation officials are in the process of selecting a site to build pontoons and concrete anchors for that project, scheduled possibly for as late as 2009.