HERBOLD: West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force updates

The West Seattle High Rise Bridge now has 60% draft status for ongoing repairs, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation. SDOT says they are well on their way to reopening in mid-2022.

Photo by Patrick Robinson

Information from District 1 Seattle City Council Member Lisa Herbold

The West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force met on September 15, and the meeting included two important pieces of news.

Initially, the bridge repair will remain on schedule for mid-2022.

Second, the West Seattle Water Taxi will keep its daily operating hours during the winter instead of the regular winter schedule on October 15th. Thanks to King County and SDOT for working together to make this possible, and to the city voters who approved the Seattle Transit Measure last year to provide funding.

Repair of the West Seattle Bridge

Construction for the repair is scheduled to start in November, with some construction starting next month.

Permits were received on time, which is critical as delays from outside governments pose a significant risk to the schedules of large capital projects.

Next month, early construction includes building aerial platforms (aerial platforms were visible during stabilization last year), drilling through portions of the bridge to allow for aerial platform installation, and laying utility lines inside the box girders in around To create space for re-tensioning.

There is a change in the scope of the bridge repair project. An additional geotechnical review has shown that seismic stabilization of Pier 18 is not required at this point in time. If the work is needed in the future, no traffic closure would be required. The cost estimate for this work was $ 12 million.

Instead, the project will reallocate that funding to $ 12 million for major maintenance work, including work on expansion joints, concrete coatings, and carbon fiber cladding. This work would be required in the future and would disrupt traffic in the years to come. So it makes sense to do it now. Additionally, this work now enables the city to hold on to federal grant funds rather than return them.

Update for the lower bridge access

When the West Seattle Bridge closed, the SDOT restricted Spokane Street (lower) bridge from being used between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. for ambulance, transit, cargo, and urgent government needs.

In June, SDOT granted conditional access to restaurants and retail outlets, shipping and industrial companies, vanpools, employer shuttles, medical on-call personnel, people traveling for life-saving medical treatment, dock workers, and urgent / unplanned trips for government vehicles (limited to urgent ones). / unplanned travel and includes the city of Seattle, King County, Washington state, local law enforcement). Access was granted to over 1,300 users.

The bridge is open for general use from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in June, SDOT was added from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. for general use on Saturday and Sunday.

With the opening of Terminal 5 in January 2022, SDOT announced that the conditional uses granted until June would have to be revoked or severely restricted at this point and use limited to emergency vehicles, transit and freight.

There is good news on this front. SDOT has announced that they have no changes to the current access planned for January 2022 and anticipate additional restrictions on government vehicle use. In large part, this is possible because the users who were granted access were careful when using the bridge. The West Seattle Junction Business Association and West Seattle Chamber, as well as representatives from other user groups, have played a very helpful role in this, so I want to thank them for their efforts.

Based on the current travel volume and the expected increase in freight traffic, SDOT encourages users to voluntarily reduce journeys between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. They are working with the Port and Northwest Seaport Alliance to reschedule trips whenever possible.

Here is the current policy, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 1st.

Below is a schedule for current access and “Phase 1” access starting January 1st. If access levels need to be reduced, a “Phase 2” plan would include lowering the limits on business travel to West Seattle and at sea (allowing fewer trips per month) and restricting access between 10am and 3pm