Gig Harbor and Kitsap County drivers: Expect delays during SR 16 closures this weekend
For anyone traveling westbound on state Route 16 Friday and Saturday night, expect traffic delays.
Westbound state Route 16 will be closed overnight from Gig Harbor to Port Orchard both nights.
Closures are set from 10 p.m. Friday, April 28, until 7 a.m. Saturday, April 29. Then it’ll close again from 10 p.m. Saturday, April 29, until 8:30 a.m. Sunday, April 30.
Drivers will see the closure at the exit for state Route 302 to Purdy.
Drivers will need to detour to state Route 302, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation press release.
“Flaggers will direct travelers through the detour using the SR 302 Spur/Purdy Drive, Purdy Lane Northwest and 144th Street Northwest,” the press release said.
Eastbound lanes will remain open and “commercial vehicles will be accommodated through the detour,” WSDOT officials said.
Contractor crews working for WSDOT will deliver and place materials needed for a new bridge structure coming to state Route 16.
The materials are “six concrete bridge girders that are each more than 200 feet long,” the press release said.
“The new bridge on westbound SR 16 is part of a project that increases access to fish habitat for Purdy Creek,” according to the press release.
Work to begin building the bridge will not start until the summer.
When finished, WSDOT crews will have replaced two culverts in Purdy Creek that are challenging for fish to swim through with a new 206-foot-long bridge structure on westbound SR 16.
These two culverts are between mile post 17 and 18, where the creek meets state Route 16.
Replacing the culverts with large bridge structures will improve the fish habitat in the creek, Angela Cochran, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation, previously told the Gateway.
