Shine: Hood Canal Bridge to be closed for two hours over weekend

Motorists planning to make a midnight getaway across the Hood Canal Bridge on Saturday night will have to wait an hour.

The state Department of Transportation will close the bridge to traffic from 11 p.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday so work crews can fix bicycle pads that are coming lose on the lift span grates.

The pads have been loosened because traffic has been shifted northward on the roadway to allow for crews to widen the western half of the floating bridge. The pads cover the grated surface on the lift span for bicycle safety.

Intermittent traffic closings and delays on the bridge will continue as widening continues until fall 2005. The bridge is scheduled to be closed for about eight weeks in 2007 to allow for replacement of the eastern half.