PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — In Pierce County, a routine inspection of the Tacoma Narrows bridge could mean big traffic headaches for drivers.
The work could affect the commutes for thousands of South Sound drivers.
The inspection and repairs started today and will last through Thursday. The bridge will stay open - but it will almost certainly be slow going.
If there is any good news, ‘day one’ ended early Monday. In fact, by 2 p.m., the bridge was fully back open.
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has timed the work to try to limit the impact, but there is no doubt, there will be an impact.
If yours is one of the 45,000 vehicles that cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge each day, you could be stuck.
Zach Pim from Lakewood had gotten word of the closure, but he was still in for a surprise this Monday morning.
“I didn’t realize that the ramp on Jackson was going to be closed. And I didn’t realize when it was going to be taking place,” said Pim.
WSDOT says its workers will be doing a deep dive this week into the condition of the westbound side of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
“It’s like going to the doctor,” said Doug Adamson, a spokesperson with WSDOT.
“You need to go in and look it over piece by piece and make sure everything is working,” he says.
WSDOT says this bridge is aging as fast as baby boomers. Last June, drivers suffered through two days of partial closures when crews discovered a crack in an expansion joint. Adamson says WSDOT feels your pain.
“Nobody wants to have backups. Nobody likes construction-related delays,” said Adamson.
This week’s inspection is being divided into sections.
Tomorrow, Sept. 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the two right lanes headed westbound will be closed - along with the Jackson Avenue ramp.
The closure will follow those same hours on Wednesday and Thursday, with the two left lanes closed heading westbound. The HOV lanes will remain open every day.
However, that may be of little comfort to drivers like Scott Averill of Seabeck.
“What affects me is going home from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.,” Averill said. “If you cross the bridge, then you’re stuck in that traffic the whole way to the Purdy cutoff.”
He will likely have to hope the work ends early again - like it did today.
WSDOT says its crews are doing repairs whenever they find little things that need to be repaired, but if those repairs are major, there could be more closures in the future.
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