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paulj's avatar
paulj
Explorer II
Sep 15, 2013

It's fixed - I5 Skagit River bridge

The permanent replacement span on the Skagit River bridge in Mt Vernon, Washington, is now installed and open for use.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/cameras/MtVernon.aspx?cam=9384

They closed the bridge last night to roll out the temporary and roll in the new. The process took a bit longer than they expected (early morning), so there were backups on the detour through town.

WSDOT has also talked about replacing the curved cross members of the remaining spans with straight ones, to give a more consistent clearance all the way across. The span collapsed in May because an oversize load got too far to the right a clipped an overhead beam. I don't know what is the time frame for that change.

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6 Replies

  • paulj's avatar
    paulj
    Explorer II
    Sep 16, 2013
    n7bsn wrote:
    Supposed to open at 6AM
    Then 11AM ... Opened at 2PM


    When was the last time you tried to move 900 tons? :)

    Though it wasn't move of the new span that caused the delay, but removing the old:
    http wrote:
    Although crews encountered some complications along the way – including the time-consuming process of cutting through thick metal plates before being able to lift the temporary span – they still finished building and relocating the bridge more than two weeks before WSDOT’s Oct. 1 deadline.


    Earlier they were talking about a week long detour while they swapped out spans, so I was surprised when I read that they were hoping to get it done overnight. Maybe they should have planned on a whole weekend (like two Vancouver I5 closures earlier this year).

    But judging from WSDOT Tweets, weather and collisions were creating more traffic problems this weekend in Seattle than construction projects.

    I was camping on WA20 this past week. They reopened that highway as planned Thur noon. Till then highway noise at Colonial Creek was blissfully little. WSDOT has some videos of blasting boulders that had been swept down with the mud onto the highway (up in the Easy Pass area).
  • paulj's avatar
    paulj
    Explorer II
    Sep 16, 2013
    http wrote:
    Drivers should expect additional nighttime detours of one or both directions of I-5 at the Skagit River Bridge beginning Monday, Sept. 16, and continuing through mid-November. The detours will give contractor crews the space they need to begin retrofitting the overhead bridge supports.


    http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SkagitRiverBridgeRetrofit/

  • paulj's avatar
    paulj
    Explorer II
    Sep 16, 2013
    ScottG wrote:
    ...
    I think it was just in time. The "temporary" bridge was starting to sag badly in the middle.


    I crossed the temporary span for the first time Wednesday. I didn't notice a sag, though it wasn't the smoothest crossing. But then I'm used to crossing that kind of span on forest roads.

    WSDOT Traffic ?@wsdot_traffic 8h
    Traffic very heavy through Skagit detour SB. Some signals are flashing which is slowing things down. Trying to get it fixed.
    https://twitter.com/wsdot_traffic
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Sep 16, 2013
    I tried to cross is this AM after is was SUPPOSED to be complete but wasn't. Man what a backup. I spent two hours going about 3 miles to get around it.
    I think it was just in time. The "temporary" bridge was starting to sag badly in the middle.

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