Community Transportation

All lanes open on westbound Narrows Bridge

The Washington State Department of Transportation finished its repair work on the westbound Tacoma Narrows Bridge a full week early.

All lanes of the bridge re-opened as of 11:40 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, WSDOT reported. The department closed the right two lanes of the bridge on Oct. 24 and anticipated the work would require two weeks.

Instead, installing a new partial bridge joint took only seven days.

“This type of repair work is incredibly complex, and problems often only reveal themselves when you get into the repair,” WSDOT Olympic Region Administrator MaryLou Shannon said in a news release. “Thanks to substantial initial preparation, planning and expert staff, we were able to complete the repair ahead of schedule.”

Crews will monitor the joint to make sure it works properly.

This week’s emergency repair was the 12th related to expansion joints in the past two years. WSDOT expects to implement a permanent fix next year, but has not finalized details.