Washington State Department of Transportation is gathering locals’ biggest concerns about the Lewis and Clark Bridge closure planned for next year.
The department held a public open house Tuesday afternoon in the Cowlitz County Event Center to answer questions from the public and provide updates about the construction plans.
The bridge is set to close for as many as six days to replace finger joints and pour concrete on both the Washington and Oregon sides. The temporary shutdown and other construction work will be significant at one of the few options for drivers trying to cross the Columbia River.
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“I’m worried particularly about services for the elderly and people that rely on others to care for them who are on the opposite side of the bridge,” Becky Moorhead said. Moorhead lives on the Washington side but regularly crosses the bridge to see family in Rainier or other travel.
The department received 1,605 responses to an online survey it offered about the closure in the first half of August. Summaries of some survey answers were posted on the signs around the event room as part of the department’s presentation.
More than half of survey responders said their biggest concerns for the project were about the detour routes that would be available during the full closure and the delays and congestion that the extended construction process would cause. Some 35% of responders said they relied on the bridge to get to work.
From the public feedback the agency received, WSDOT regional spokesperson Kelly Hanahan said the concerns about medical access and care stood out. She said the department is planning stakeholder meetings with medical practices and emergency services to plan around those needs.
“We want to do the stakeholder work, so we can come up with the best solutions to the comments that were made in the public survey. We’re not going to cerate decisions in a vacuum,” Hanahan said.
As part of the open house Tuesday, WSDOT held a roundtable for emergency services to discuss emergency access to the bridge they might need during the closure and different methods that could be used to organize those crossings.
Moorhead said that WSDOT had done a “great job communicating what’s going to happen” well in advance of the project.
The survey results may also affect the timing of when the construction work actually takes place next year. More than 60% of respondents said they preferred a closure over the weekend to the weekdays. Fewer than 25% said they wanted the full closure to happen around a holiday.
The Department of Transportation is going out for construction bids in November. Once a contract for the project is finalized, exact dates for the closure and other work will be announced around the beginning of 2023.
Public weighs in about pending Lewis & Clark Bridge closure - bigcountrynewsconnection.com
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