Bainbridge to Seattle ferry to close to car traffic for week in September
For a week in September, no cars, motorcycles or even bicycles will be allowed on the Bainbridge to Seattle ferry crossing, Washington State Ferries announced Wednesday.
From Thursday, Sept. 7 to Wednesday, Sept. 13, the loading area for cars and bikes on Bainbridge Island will be reserved for cranes and other heavy equipment to complete work on a new overhead walkway. As a result, the ferry system’s busiest crossing will be open only to walk-on passengers and emergency vehicles.
The work is the final stage of the $33 million project to replace the current walkway, which is more than 50 years old and supported by seismically vulnerable wooden posts. Construction has been underway since last summer, but crews have managed to keep both the current walkway and the loading dock open.
The new walkway will be fortified with steel and rest on steel and concrete pillars, intended to withstand a major earthquake. The work will also update mechanical and electrical equipment used to raise and lower the ramp onto the ferries.
Over the course of the week, crews will lift the final pieces of the new walkway into place for a fall opening. In addition to the car-level closures, there will be two to three “short” closures to the overhead walkway, during which passengers will board and offload from the car deck.
Crews are scheduled to demolish the old walkway either late this year or early next year with the goal of finishing the project in winter 2024.
Drivers heading to Seattle can either loop south over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge or head up to the route between Kingston and Edmonds.
Nearly 4.5 million people sailed between Bainbridge and Seattle in 2022, more than a million more rides than the next busiest route, Mukilteo and Clinton.
Source: The Seattle Times
