North Olympic Peninsula tourism leaders will meet with state transportation officials later this month to press their case for summertime Hood Canal Bridge closures on weekdays, not weekends.
Although the state has set tentative closure dates over weekends — Aug. 5-9 and Aug. 26-30 — a department spokesman indicated Thursday that the issue is far from decided and that it might still be possible to have weekday closures.
The Olympic Region spokesman, Lloyd Brown, also said the previously overwhelming support of weekend closures by those who rely on the bridge during the week has been matched by tourism-related businesses that want the bridge open to visitors on weekends.
“This thing may be back up for consideration,” Brown said to a gathering of tourism officials from the North Olympic Peninsula, adding that “it’s still probably heavy toward the weekend.”
The gathering Thursday was held at Petals Restaurant in Sequim.
New approach spans
Work has already started on new approach spans for the aging floating bridge, which provides the most direct route for vehicles traveling on and off the Olympic Peninsula.
When the spans are ready, they will be rolled into place — which will require closing the bridge for two 78-hour periods.
When those closures will occur continues to be extensively debated.
Commuters use the bridge during the week, and many businesses in the area rely on deliveries from trucks coming across the canal.
Friday through Sunday, however, visitors stream over the 1.25-mile bridge to a wide array of festivals, shows and other events that are scheduled almost every weekend during the summer.
“There are no single three days that aren’t going to hurt somebody,” said Russ Veenema, executive director of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re trying to get them to be somewhat flexible and open to the concerns of the community.”
Veenema and Tim Caldwell, general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, are scheduled to press the issue March 22 with Randy Hain, Olympic Region administrator for the Department of Transportation; Eric Soderquist, bridge project manager; and Brown.
Spurn Peninsula entirely?
One of the main concerns is that weekend closures could have a kind of ripple effect — if people aren’t sure if the bridge will be open, they might write off coming to the Peninsula altogether, for example.
And potential visitors who are stopped by a closed bridge might think twice before they put a Peninsula event on their agenda again.
Brown also noted that one of the proposed closure dates might not work because of heavy bridge use.
The first weekend of August, he said, is usually one of the busiest for the Washington State Ferries system, and many of those users head to the Peninsula.