During the Community Task Force meeting June 9, the Seattle Department of Transportation explained that the West Seattle Bridge would remain closed unit the tentative reopening the week of September 12.

For the past few months they had been saying it would be mid-year. Technically that would the 183rd day or July 3. They were consistent in saying that the exact date would be known 30 days out. So while their initial target date obviously slipped they did offer an explanation during the meeting as to why.

West Seattle Bridge Program Director for SDOT Heather Marx said in her announcement:

"The West Seattle Bridge will reopen to traffic the week of September 12th now. 

The remaining repairs for completion of the project require challenging and complex work and a project of this scale may still encounter additional unforeseen challenges that are outside our control and outside the contractors control, but we are committed to transparency, and we heard the community when you said how much it was critical for you to know so you could plan your lives like what's the scale of the opening. And so like I said, we plan to reopen the week of September 12.

There are things in the interest of transparency that could impact that timeline, whether testing and inspection results. So you remember that we're going to go back and test the bridge before we open it. If those tests come back not good, then clearly we need to continue our work. Worker availability is critical in many sectors, particularly construction,. Supply chain issues for materials may impact this date and other typical issues that that impact any complex construction project. 

So as as things happen that that change that September 12th date, either for the good or for the less than good we will be here and we pledge to you that we will keep you abreast of all. those developments as they come by. 

In the past few months alone we have had a major snowstorm. the worst outbreak of the pandemic. Everybody remembers Delta and most consequential to the schedule that we're sharing today, a concrete strike. 

The disruptions caused by the regional concrete strike have had a major impact on our schedule. 

Our construction contractor originally planned to begin pouring concrete in the early part of the year. You remember that I said. February 20th was the day when we didn't get concrete. By then it would start to impact our critical path. You know that we did not even start getting concrete until the middle of April. Now that we've completed all of those structural concrete pours. We're ready, we are determined to move through the remaining work in the post tensioning system that installs cables inside the bridge and pulls them tight. So that we can get folks back on the bridge. 

The remaining critical path work includes structural, concrete curing, post tensioning, final epoxy crack injection, and carbon fiber wrapping critical. major maintenance activities so that we can turn that bridge back over to the people of West Seattle and the Duwamish valley in a beautiful working order and then of course we have to do testing and commissioning about 30 days before reopening. We'll be able to give you a precise date."

District 1 City Councilmember Lisa Herbold asked if there was anything that could be done to speed up the schedule noting the projected date is after the first day of the school year.

Marx replied,

"Obviously none of the bad things happening would be a good first step. 

Production in terms of the time it takes us to do what we call "phase four epoxy crack injection" and carbon fiber wrap. 

If the production is faster and and there are some things that that that you might think would be a good idea, like sdding adding shifts, we're already working 60 hours a week 10 hours a day, six days a week. So that's a lot and working people more than that doesn't usually result in safety. Being everyone's top priority, to the extent that there are night shifts that we can staff that like clean things up and get things set up for the next shift we're looking at that. 

So also an important thing to note is everything is very sequential here, right? 

So first it has to cure. Then we have to do the post tensioning. Then we do the phase four carbon fiber. We can't. None of those can be rushed like we can't, and we can't do them. 

So the the big hope here is that as the crew does, you know as much CFRP as they have done thus far, that they're just going to get better at it under the conditions that they have to maneuver within. 

So please do trust me, that the the contractors doing everything. It does not benefit them for this to last. So they are doing everything they can to move forward with urgency and with safety. "

Dan Austin, owner of Peel and Press in the Morgan Junction and The FlightPath Tavern in Boulevard Park expressed his (and likely many others) disappointment in the announced date.

"I'm just not sure my comments are going to be appropriate to be recorded. 

This is we've been hearing middle of this year up until a few minutes ago and if I could have screen shot at the faces of disappointment when September was stated, it would have made a great news article. 

The concrete didn't last as long as this additional delay is unless we're estimating."

 

Marx replied,

"It wasn't a day for day push for concrete I mean, concrete wasn't the reason for the whole delay. 

But yeah, we were two months after the date that we gave as the critical path date for concrete

That was February 20th and we didn't get concrete until after April 20th, so it's it is that much time there are other things that happen during construction Dan and I'm sure, you know this is a dicey a dicey metaphor, but perhaps you have built a deck or remodeled your kitchen and things happen during construction. 

Things don't go as fast, things go faster. 

You may recall that way back two years ago, when we were talking about 'As built' drawings and how the 'As Built' the late drawings that we have that are labeled 'As Built' didn't in fact reflect actually the bridge as it was built. 

And so as we are doing this work, we find things that that require field design.This is common in construction. 

And Dan, I'm I'm one of you. When I heard September my heart sank but I know how good our team is and how dedicated our contractors are and they aren't they aren't looking to pull this out. 

Right, they aren't looking to make this longer than it has to be. It is a disappointment."

Dan said. 

"Again, I think I think the disappointment is just that it wasn't it. This has obviously been known since before today that we were slipping and I think West Seattle and all neighborhoods would have appreciated knowing that we weren't hanging on on a July opening or that time frame. I just feel like there's a lack of communication there which is probably upsetting, and that's just my feeling. 

I'm sure 60 or 80,000 other West Seattle probably feel the same right now, but you know, let's just hope this moves forward without any further delay. "

Marx went on to explain that is was SDOT's intent give back a "better" West Seattle Bridge and that as part of that they were replacing more than 60 road panels on the West Seattle Expressway, that part of the road from 35th SW to before the bridge itself and would add a textured surface to the road in the curved area for more safety.. They will also repair holes in the road deck, add all new signage, and road markings such as red paint designating bus lanes. She noted that seismic reinforcement around the base of the piers was deemed unecessary but that Pier 18, whose neoprene blanket had become damaged, compromising bridge performance was now completely restored.

SDOT added on Friday June 10:

In addition to the West Seattle Bridge repairs, we continue with other improvements in preparation for reopening. This includes projects on and near the bridge, such as:  

• Replacing and installing new overhead signs 

• Restriping and cleaning up on-ramps (e.g., Delridge Way SW and southbound SR 99) 
• Replacing 60+ concrete panels east of 35th Ave SW and sealing the concrete panel joints 
• Installing a concrete overlay on the Fauntleroy Expressway, plus other repaving projects 

 For a brief look at the history of the remediation and repair of the bridge, the work still to do on the lower Spokane Street Bridge and what SDOT Plans to do with their effort to mitigate the impacts through Reconnect West Seattle take a look at their slide deck from meeting here.