It’s not the waters that are troubled.

It’s the bridge. And then some.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has announced critical closures of the Hood Canal Bridge this summer for repair work.

The span will be completely closed from 11 p.m. Fridays to 4 a.m. Mondays for four consecutive weekends starting Friday, July 28.

The bridge, which has roughly 18,000 vehicle crossings a day, will also be shut down the weekends of Aug. 4, Aug. 11, and Aug. 18.

The shutdown during the summer tourism season has alarmed officials, residents, and businesses across the Olympic Peninsula.

Steve Roark, Region Administrator for the Washington State Department of Transportation, has been recently meeting with public officials and organizations across the Peninsula to talk about the pending closures.

The news has not been well received.

“There’s no good time for construction,” Roark told The Leader.

“The challenging part is finding a gap in the busy summer area. To not impact tourism is almost impossible,” he said.

It’s a balancing act of tradeoffs, Roark said, of trying to get the work done in good weather.

WORK REQUIRED FOR SAFETY REASONS

The project includes rehabilitating the center lock system that keeps both halves of the bridge connected. Transportation officials said the center lock is similar to a deadbolt on a door, and the system needs to be strengthened to deal with winter storms and tides.

Another component of the span that needs work are the “pyramids”; twin metallic objects that help guide the span into dual receivers on one side of the bridge. 

Roark said the drawspan’s center locks are similar to an old-school briefcase with latches; two giant, hydraulically operated latches that hold the drawspan together.

Over the years, the stress and strain of tides in and out, and the wind, have taken a toll. 

“It’s just wore out,” he said.

For those who would like to see the closures staggered across the summer and not on consecutive weekends, Roark said: “The answer is really no. Once we start the work, we need to finish the work.”

The work is also dependent on the weather.

“We think that’s the best balance between getting the work done in good weather while trying to meet the needs of the community in avoiding the major events and festivals that are going on.”

“But, at the end of the day, some folks are still not happy with the time frame we picked. But we have to pick a weekend.”

The bridge work is only one piece of a packed construction schedule for the Olympic Peninsula.

THE PROJECT RUNDOWN

Construction is also expected to start this summer on three roundabouts on local highways: Highway 104 at Shine-Paradise Bay Road; the Highway 104/Highway 19 interchange; and the Kearney Street/Highway 20 intersection in Port Townsend.

At Highway 104 at Paradise Bay Road, a single-lane, metered roundabout is planned. Transportation officials have said the project will reduce the severity and frequency of head-on crashes and improve the flow of traffic. The project includes intermittent lane closures,  and a short-term closure of access from Shine Road to Highway 104 that will last about two weeks.

The roundabout at Highway 104/Highway 19 is also being done for safety reasons, officials said. Drivers will face temporary lane closures as work is done in phases, and there will also be a short-term closure of access to Highway 104 from Highway 19 for three weeks.

The construction of a roundabout at the Highway 20/Kearney Street intersection is expected to prompt temporary closures that will last a few weeks.

Other projects that will slow traffic include the removal of fish barriers on US 101 in both Jefferson and Clallam counties.

CONCERN RISES IN JEFFCO

The impending closures of the Hood Canal Bridge have left some officials wondering if there is a chance to modify the schedule for the work to lessen any local impacts.

County Commissioner Kate Dean said the work would mean “some pretty catastrophic impacts to our community potentially.”

At Monday’s meeting of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, Dean noted noted there was a Peninsula regional transportation planning organization meeting Friday.

“I’m thinking we really need to elevate our concerns there, maybe as a region,” she said.

Dean said the back-to-back shutdowns would span four entire weekends at the height of summer, from Friday night at 11 p.m. until Monday at 4 a.m. And it just seems it’s going to have such a disproportionate impact being focused on those days.”

“And those weekends in particular,” she added.

County Commissioner Greg Brotherton recalled that concerns about the shutdowns had been raised earlier.

“This is, of course, year two of this process and we’ve been saying, ‘OK, as long as it’s not in the middle of summer during all of these events,’” he recalled.

“So three of the four weekends in August is when they chose. Pretty tone deaf,” Brotherton said.

Dean said they need to create a strategy for pushing back.

“I totally agree on that,” said County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour.

Eisenhour said she had heard from a local farmer who will take a financial hit from the closures. 

That farmer travels to the farmers market in Ballard every weekend in the summer, she said, “and stands to lose tens of thousands of dollars with these closures.”

“So it’s hitting our community in multiple ways that are obvious,” Eisenhour said. “And less obvious, as well.”