BELLINGHAM, Wash. — During a routine safety inspection, Whatcom County crews found increased amounts of rot in the wood of the bridge superstructure over the water. According to the Whatcom County website, “Without some immediate solution the bridge would have to be closed to heavy traffic including school buses and fire district vehicles.” The nearly $10 million bridge replacement project will require closing the bridge to all traffic for approximately 15 months.
Construction is scheduled to begin about Tuesday, May 28th. There will also be intermittent closures to boat traffic under the bridge.
Following the inspection, bridge traffic was reduced to a single lane in March of 2016 with drivers taking turns proceeding in opposite directions.
Samish Park, located at the north end of the bridge, will also be closed to the public during this time while the contractor uses the park as a staging area for materials and equipment.
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Construction was previously planned to begin in 2022 but was rescheduled “due to additional time needed to complete all right-of-way negotiations and to obtain all environmental permits.
Last year, the project was put out to bid again and the county received 1 bid. That bid was approximately $800,000 over the available budget so the project was not awarded to the bidder. This delayed the project another year.
Whatcom County Public Works officials announced in November of 2023 that the project was awarded to Cascade Bridge, LLC, for approximately $9,671,000 and construction was expected to start in May of 2024.
The new bridge is expected to open to traffic sometime around late August of 2025.
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