Date:
Monday, December 17, 2007
Contact:
Lauren Penning, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4473 (Seattle)
Tim Ditch, WSDOT Bridge Maintenance, 425-739-3700 (Bellevue)
SEATTLE – Washington State Department of Transportation bridge crews and Seattle City Light restored power to the west half of the SR 520 Bridge at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15. Bridge crews cancelled monthly maintenance work last week due to the outage, and have rescheduled the work for Wednesday morning, Dec. 19.
Maintenance tests will begin at 2:30 a.m. and end at 5 a.m. early Wednesday morning. During this time, drivers can expect the bridge to be closed to traffic intermittently for up to 30 minutes at a time. While the bridge is closed to traffic, bridge crews will perform monthly safety checks and confirm that utility power to the drawspan has been restored after electrical repairs.
Electronic signs will alert drivers of "possible 30 minute delays" at either end of the bridge and on highways that lead to the bridge. To avoid delays associated with the closures, drivers can take Interstate 90 across Lake Washington during the tests.
This work was cancelled last week after Seattle City Light crews were forced to shut down power to the west end of the bridge upon discovering a blown fuse in the wake of the Dec. 3 storm. Seattle City Light replaced their fuse last week. Power to the bridge remained off until WSDOT crews could repair three damaged splices and replace three fuses on the bridge. This work restored power to bridge lights, traffic cameras, a variable message sign, HAR radio signal and pontoon alarms.
Monthly maintenance on the SR 520 Bridge is usually scheduled on the second Thursday of every month.
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