Forward thinking may prevent future headaches for 520 commuters
Mar 14, 2016, 7:52 PM | Updated: May 4, 2016, 10:34 pm
A heavy windstorm sent waves over the SR 520 floating bridge March 13, causing officials to close the bridge until the wind died down. (National Weather Service)
(National Weather Service)
After a heavy windstorm struck the Puget Sound region, knocking out power to thousands of homes, and closing down the SR 520 Bridge, state officials are saying that the bridge’s replacement won’t be plagued with similar issues.
Related: Heavy windstorm puts Puget Sound households in the dark
“The old bridge was built in 1963, and to make sure it is OK in windstorms and for the safety of the public, we open the mid-span when winds get up to 50 miles-per-hour for about 15 minutes,” said Washington State Department Spokesperson Steve Peer.
Peer notes that part of the problem with the current SR 520 floating bridge is that it is lower and closer to the surface of Lake Washington.
“So waves, as many people have seen, will crash over the 520 bridge and that becomes a danger,” he said.
SR 520 floating bridge is closed due to high winds. All vehicles stuck on bridge being turned around & flushed out.
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic)
But the new bridge has taken these issues into account, with the aim that future storms won’t shut it down.
“The new floating bridge is built to sustain 89 mile-per-hour winds which is essentially a 100 year storm,” Peer said. “We doubt there will be closures as frequent as they are today.”
“The new floating bridge is actually 20 feet above the lake, so we won’t have the wind action causing waves to crash over the structure,” he said. “So moving forward we shouldn’t have closures like this at all.”
The new SR 520 Bridge is slated to open April 2 with a pedestrian only celebration followed by Seattle’s largest bike ride to date.
