SHINE — Cross-canal shuttle service resumed about 6 p.m. Monday after being shut down across Hood Canal six hours earlier because of gusting winds and choppy seas.
It was the second time in a week the service was interrupted on the temporary South Point to Lofall run during the east-half Hood Canal Bridge replacement project.
Workers did manage to pull the final 770-foot roadway section off old east-half pontoons Monday morning, making way for Kiewit General and General Construction to tow in the 943-foot replacement section, which was scheduled today but called off because of anticipated bad weather.
The Victoria Express sailings were canceled by heavy winds at noon Monday, but resumed around 6 p.m., the state Department of Transportation reported.
The problem is the South Point dock on the Jefferson County side, which in windy conditions is slapped with waves, preventing safe landings at the dock, transportation officials said.
The passenger ferry Victoria Express is known to ply challenging seas during its regular runs across the Strait of Juan de Fuca among Port Angeles and Victoria and the San Juan Islands.
“Winds are supposed to continue into the evening, so we’re not terribly optimistic about getting things going soon,” Jamie Swift, a bridge project spokesman, said late Monday afternoon before the 6 p.m. resumption.
“We do our best to reach everybody, but there are still a few people who don’t get the word.”
Cross-canal commuters can find ongoing weather warnings that could cancel Jefferson Transit bus and passenger ferry service by Port Angeles-based Victoria Express at www.hoodcanalbridge.com or by phoning 5-1-1.
It was the first time winds have gusted up since early last week when the water shuttle and bus shuttle were shut down for 18 hours, bringing travel across Hood Canal to a standstill.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday issued a gale warning, reporting winds of 20 mph or more on Hood Canal with waves between 2 and 4 feet.
The floating bridge was closed May 1 for a six-week project that replaces the east half and the steel trusses at both ends — a $500 million project that state officials say will result in a safer, wider, more reliable bridge.
In with the new
The project will now concentrate on moving in new bridge components.
“Up to now, we’ve been focused on disconnecting and floating out the old parts,” Dave Ziegler, Hood Canal Bridge project principal engineer, said on the hoodcanalbridge.com Web site.
“We’re looking forward to reassembling the bridge with the new and improved pieces.”
Tugs pulled out of Hood Canal just prior to noon Monday with the last piece of the old east half in tow.
The old eastern half is being towed to Canada, where a Victoria developer is refurbishing the bridge floats for future marine uses — possibly for a marina and pier at Sidney on Vancouver Island.
The 770-foot roadway section will be replaced with a 943-foot-long pontoon section now moored in Port Gamble Bay.
Crews planned to get a jump early this morning on moving the new three-football-fields-long section from Port Gamble for a couple of reasons, both related to tidal conditions, Ziegler said.
Port Gamble is a shallow channel, so setting sea at high tide is ideal, he said.
The early morning move allows tugs to escort the new pontoon section into Hood Canal with the help of an incoming tide.
“The project has really picked up steam the past several days,” Ziegler said. “We’ve reached several milestones since late last week.”
They include:
• Removal of the 1-million-pound west-end truss Friday.
• Removal of the 720-foot-long floating east-half roadway section Saturday and floating it away Monday.
• Removal of the old and installation of the new west-end A-frame, which supports the new west truss, on Saturday.