SHINE — Drivers are being advised to plan ahead for a series of consecutive nights next week when the Hood Canal Bridge will close completely to traffic for six hours at a time.
The extended closures of the bridge on state Highway 104 will allow crews to perform extensive tests on newly replaced mechanical components, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The continuous six-hour closures are in contrast to recent night closures where crews intermittently reopened the bridge to traffic. Additionally, the last planned closure in the series could last up to nine hours.
The state Department of Transportation said the nature of the tests and the tight time frames needed to complete them will prohibit intermittent traffic openings.
The scheduled closures are:
• 10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, until 4 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28
• 10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, until 4 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29
• 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, until 4 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30
• 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, until 4 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1
• 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, until 7 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 2
The state Department of Transportation will work with emergency responders as much as possible during the total bridge closures.
The closures could mean that Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum newspapers are delayed.
The newspapers are printed in Everett and brought over the bridge in the early morning hours.
Drivers are encouraged to sign up for email updates at tinyurl.com/PDN-DOTupdates and check the Hood Canal Bridge webpage at www.wsdot.com/traffic/hoodcanal for timely information.
Travelers can also get bridge information via text messages. The service will start with a text to 468311 with the words “wsdot hood.”
