520 Bridge Cable Requires Emergency Repairs

Emergency repairs will be made to a State Route 520 floating bridge cable connection after divers discovered damage and corrosion during a routine inspection Thursday, March 8.

Underwater repair work will begin on Friday morning, March 9. The floating bridge remains safe and open to traffic, said state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond.

“This damage was discovered by divers during a routine inspection of this vulnerable floating bridge,” Hammond said. “Each windstorm threatens to cause further damage and demonstrates our need to replace this nearly 50-year-old bridge.”

Repair work is preliminarily estimated to cost up to $60,000 and will focus on a steel plate and pin connection on the south side of the floating bridge at the anchor to the westernmost pontoon. The anchor is one of 58 that tie the 1.5-mile-long floating bridge to the lakebed.

Immediate repairs are necessary before the next windstorm. Divers say the pin already has slid halfway out of position. If heavy wind and waves batter the bridge, the pin could be forced completely out of position, separating the bridge and cable from the anchor on the lakebed.

Repair work is estimated to take between one and four days.

The bridge is also scheduled for a weekend closure to remove the

-- Information from the Washington State Department of Transportation