SHINE — While state Department of Transportation officials are choosing their words carefully when it comes to what day Hood Canal Bridge reopens, next week appears to be the target.
“We’re only going to announce three days before it’s going to open,” bridge project spokeswoman Becky Hixson said Thursday.
“Right now, it’s just some time next week.”
The project was most recently reported to be approaching $500 million in costs to replace the east half.
The bridge has been closed since May 1, and workers have encountered about three bad-weather days that kept them from working.
Hixson said DOT and contractor Kiewit-General Construction Co. are performing mechanical work on the bridge’s newly joined pontoons.
“We are focused on bearing pads for the trusses. There are eight of those, and two a day can be set,” Hixson said of the large bearings that will pad the weight of vehicles crossing the wider trusses installed at both ends of the bridge.
“The other focus of work is getting that draw span working,” she said, adding the draw span pontoon is being ballasted to make sure it is set right in the water.
Hixson on Wednesday said the bridge could be opened as soon as June 5, pending weather and work progress.
With the good, windless weather, work has progressed to the point that it has put the project ahead of schedule by about three days, officials said.
A June 6 date for a “Bridge Opening Bash” near the Hood Canal Bridge’s new east half and later that day in Port Townsend has been confirmed, but the bridge construction manager is reluctant to say when the bridge actually will open to traffic.
Scott Ireland said late last week that the bridge may reopen a week earlier than anticipated but added that the opening date would not be determined.
The contractor’s original deadline for completion was June 12. That has been moved to June 15 because of weather-related delays.
Transportation will pay contractor Kiewit-General a bonus of $75,000 a day for up to eight days for completing the bridge early.
If the company is late, it will pay the state $75,000 for each day’s delay, up to a maximum of $1 million.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
