By Doug Adamson

Area of the bridge before the rust was removed.

Crews have completed the painstaking process of hand-removing truckloads of dirt, debris and other gunk from the State Route 305 Agate Pass Bridge.  Crews removed roughly 9 tons of material, which is more than the average size of an African elephant.  After removing debris, crews most recently have been flushing the bridge with low-pressure water to complete the cleaning process.

Our workers also are turning their attention to removing rust. They use specialized air-powered tools that grind rust away. To help protect the environment, the rust is scooped up by a connected vacuum system.  After the rust is removed, they apply a zinc coating that protects the underlying steel from future rust. 

Crews continue to find what they expected on a bridge of this age – missing or rusted rivet heads, rusty bridge pins, chipped and broken sidewalk sections, etc. We will know more about the overall condition of the bridge after a complete inspection is done next week by our bridge preservation engineers.

That’s where highly-trained experts will conduct a meticulous inspection of this key link between Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula. 

Drivers help prevent mega-traffic jams
We offer our immense gratitude to drivers who continue to avoid the bridge during work hours. It makes a big difference when people consolidate trips, carpool, and cancel discretionary trips.

Following rust removal, crews treated the area with a zinc-based product to protect the underlying steel.

On Sunday, Feb. 22, the Chilly Hilly bike ride is scheduled to take place between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Although the bike route does not cross the Agate Pass Bridge, we expect higher traffic volumes on SR 305 as participants from the Kitsap Peninsula drive to the starting point in Bainbridge Island. We would like to ask those Chilly Hilly participants to please add extra travel time to cross the bridge both on their way to the event, and on their journey back home.

Drivers use alternate ferry routes
Washington State Ferries has noted about a 5 percent decrease in vehicles on their mid-day Bainbridge Island runs, and a 3 percent and 4.5 percent increase in their daytime Bremerton and Kingston runs, respectively. We would like to thank ferry users who have changed ferry routes to avoid crossing the bridge, and encourage them to continue doing so since Ferries still has excess capacity on their mid-day Bremerton and Kingston runs.

If all goes according to plan, the work will wrap up on Saturday, Feb. 28.  Until that time, we continue to ask drivers to plan ahead and expect delays during the following times.

Remaining SR 305 Agate Pass Bridge work schedule
Single-lane alternating traffic 7 days a week until February 28, 2015
8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Monday through Friday
7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday

By Doug Adamson

You wash your car and your dog. You wash behind your ears. But, washing bridges? It sounds odd, but the answer is yes. Washington’s aging bridges get a lot of exposure to the elements and occasionally need a bath. It is particularly true when key spans are near corrosive saltwater.

The Agate Pass Bridge requires a thorough inspection. In order for that to happen, crews need to deep clean the bridge.

The reason for bridge washing, however, goes well beyond ‘keeping things tidy.’ Our inspectors are required to clearly inspect critical bridge elements, such as joints. That’s tough to do when those bridge elements are covered in a thick layer of gunk.

What are we doing? 
For 21 consecutive days beginning February 9, our bridge maintenance crews will deep-clean the Agate Pass Bridge on State Route 305. Workers also will inspect this vital link between Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula. Crews will use three Under-Bridge-Inspection-Trucks (UBITs) to reach all areas of the bridge. UBITs have a crane-like arm that extends crew carriers over the side of the bridge.

What does this work mean for drivers? 

Crews will use three UBITs to clean and inspect Agate Pass Bridge in February 2015. This photo shows a UBIT being used to inspect the SR 167 Puyallup River Bridge.

Every day from February 9 through February 28, drivers will encounter single-lane alternating traffic
at the bridge each Monday through Friday between 8:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, single-lane alternating traffic will be in place from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Drivers who use SR 305 across the bridge should expect long delays during work hours. The work hours were chosen in coordination with the Washington State Ferries schedule to minimize impacts to ferry users.

Traffic impacts
There will be a lot of potentially frustrating traffic backups. That’s why we will need help from drivers. The Agate Pass Bridge is used by 22,000 vehicles per day.  During the seven hours between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. - the times crews will work - SR 305 carries about 4,600 vehicles in each direction.

Planning ahead could help save you time and frustration.

Here’s a time-tested strategy:

• Allow plenty of extra time to travel through the work zone.
• If possible, travel early in the morning or later in the afternoon or evening. 
• Consider rescheduling discretionary trips and telecommuting.

Why isn’t this work being done at night? 

The Agate Pass Bridge, built in 1950, is a critical link between the north end of Bainbridge Island and mainland Kitsap County.

Since one of our key goals is to keep traffic moving, we routinely schedule lane closures on state highways when traffic volumes are lower, typically at night. This project, however, is different. Workers need daylight to get this kind of work done. Motorists will see the bridge lined with three UBITs. An operator inside the truck needs to move in concert with workers inside a crew carrier to thread the truck’s crane-like arms through tight spaces under the bridge deck. The arm – that carries two crew members in a basket on the end of the arm – is delicately navigated through V-shaped steel portions of the bridge both above and below the deck. The operation has been compared to threading a needle when both the needle and the thread are moving. In this case, one person is holding the needle while a second is holding the thread.  Once the needle is threaded, daylight allows bridge inspectors to take an in-depth look at the bridge’s steel, checking for corrosion, cracks or other signs of wear.

We want to make sure that nothing, not the crews, the equipment, the driving public or the bridge, is damaged or injured in this process. In this particular scenario, working at night introduces unacceptable safety risks and inefficiencies.

Why don’t you just use the money to build a new bridge? 
The $200,000 cost of this work is akin to investing in your old, yet dependable car to keep it going. Reality is, the funds being used to clean the bridge wouldn’t pay even a fraction of the cost to build a new one.

Bridges and highways are significant investments in our state that were made by previous generations. We’re working to preserve the infrastructure – like the Agate Pass Bridge - for years to come.

Done with an eye toward protecting the environment 
In order to protect the environment, we have been working with the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) to do this work. During the work, we’ll hand-clean the bridge of debris followed by low-pressure flushing. The approach, approved by DOE following a pilot project, minimizes the impacts to waters flowing below the bridge. Sampling after this two-step approach has shown insignificant impacts to the environment. This option is also much less expensive since it doesn’t require crews to fully encapsulate the bridge in an oversized tent.

For more information about the SR 305 Agate Pass Bridge daytime closures, visit the project website.