Seattle bridge repairs planned

Repairs are being planned for the West Seattle Bridge.
By MJ Woof December 1, 2020 Read time: 1 min
A repair plan has now been set for the West Seattle Bridge – image courtesy © Mariana Ianovska, Dreamstime.com
Further repair works are being planned for the troubled West Seattle Bridge in the US. The link had to be closed to traffic in March 2020 when cracks were found in the structure.

Repairing the bridge has been selected as the best option as this will cost in the region of US$47 million to carry out. By comparison, replacing the structure entirely would cost anything from $390 million to $522 million. The bridge carries around 100,000 vehicles/day, considerably more than it was designed for. Opened in 1984, the bridge later had an extra lane added.

The link has had issues in the past including a jammed bearing, as well as creep in its concrete structure and also had to cope with an earthquake.

Phase I of the repair programme is now being completed. But Phase II will require more time to carry out, with the repairs being completed by mid-2022.

The plans also call for the construction of a second bridge that will carry a light rail link, as well as cars and in addition, will have facilities for cyclists.
Maintenance

Related Content

  • KIT to study bridge vibration data
    July 7, 2025
    In Germany, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT, will use acceleration sensors to gather vibration data from bridges to pinpoint structural degradation.
    Read More
  • Award winning bridge for North Carolina
    November 21, 2019
    A new bridge in the US state of North Carolina has won a key award for excellence – Mike Woof writes
    Read More
  • PPRS Nice 2018: maintenance moves mountains
    June 22, 2018
    Strategic maintenance was a major theme at the second Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Nice, France. The world is changing, mobility is changing and so roads must change and adapt for the future.” With this brief statement, Jacques Tavernier opened the second PPRS Summit. “At the same time there is a growing awareness of poor or non-existent maintenance for highways. The question for this conference is how to adapt road maintenance in the face of this challenge,” said Tavernier, in his role as
    Read More
  • Kronprinsesse Marys Bro bridges Roskilde Fjord
    January 10, 2019
    A BESIX joint venture is giving the royal treatment to the new Kronprinsesse Marys Bro across Roskilde Fjord, writes David Arminas It was announced in September 2016 that Belgian group BESIX, in a joint venture (RBAI) with Italian firm Rizzani de Eccher and Spanish company Acciona Infraestructuras, had been chosen for the €133 million project. The award, by client Vejdirektoratet (Danish Road Directorate), marked the entry of BESIX into the Scandinavian market. Vejdirektoratet praised the winning bid as
    Read More

Highlighted Content