The drawbridge spanning the Hylebos Waterway is lying flat this week, for the first time since it was damaged and stuck in the upright position 10 years ago.
The bridge is not yet open to traffic, but after nearly $26 million in renovation costs, it’s getting close. Crews will install a new concrete surface on the bridge deck between now and Monday, one of the last orders of business before the bridge at last reopens to traffic this fall.
“We’ve reached a big milestone,” said City of Tacoma project manager Leigh Starr. “It’s been under construction for a while now, with a total replacement of mechanical and electrical systems.
“It also needed a new deck,” Starr said, “and you can’t do that in the vertical position.”
Constant ship traffic in and out of the Hylebos made closing the bridge for such an extended period complex, according to Starr.
“We’ve been coordinating with the Coast Guard, private marinas, steel companies,” he said. “Closing it for nine days was a huge undertaking.”
The Hyleblos project has taken so long in part because the bridge no longer is part of a major traffic corridor.
It once was part of state Route 509, but traffic dropped considerably after the Blair Bridge closed in 1997 and the state highway was rerouted around the Tideflats.
Public safety was the main reason for the repair.
When the bridge reopens, Alexander Avenue will be permanently abandoned for expansion projects at the Port of Tacoma, and the Hylebos Bridge will become a primary evacuation route from the highly industrialized peninsula between the Blair and Sitcum waterways.
The Hylebos Bridge was disabled in January 2001, when a 7-inch drive shaft for one of the bridge’s leaves sheared off during an emergency stop.
Initially, the city estimated it would cost $120,000 to $200,000 to repair the bridge’s damaged mechanical equipment. But those figures rose quickly.
The state Department of Transportation found structural deficiencies in the east and west bridge approaches. Estimated repair costs: $500,000.
The city then estimated costs could reach $7 million to $9 million to rehabilitate the electrical, mechanical and structural systems and repair the approaches.
Design, engineering and legal costs – plus additional repairs resulting from a fire in 2004 – eventually raised the price to $25.72 million.
The city paid $11.97 million, the state and federal government paid $11.75 million. The port contributed $2 million.
Rob Carson: 253-597-8693
rob.carson@thenewstribune.com
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