UPDATE: NE 12th Street Bridge to Be Closed Overnight, Single Direction During Days

The new NE 12th Street Bridge, damaged over the weekend when , will be closed completely overnight and open only in the westbound direction during the day, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Traffic on the bridge is being reduced as a precautionary measure, while engineers analyze damage to the structure, according to a press release by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

A piece of the old bridge struck the north side of the new bridge on Saturday morning, causing damage that was 28 feet long by 1 foot high and 2 to 3 inches deep, said Ronald W. Kessack, the city of Bellevue's Right of Way/Franchise manager in the transportation department. Eastbound traffic is being diverted because there is more room for detours on the west side of the bridge, he said.

During the day, eastbound drivers will follow a signed detour using N.E. 10th Street and N.E. 8th Street. At night, when traffic is light, crews will completely close the bridge to prevent driver confusion in the work zone, according to the WSDOT.

Drivers can cross 405 on NE 10th and NE 8th.

The freeway closure that completely shut down I-405 over the weekend was because of the removal of the NE 12th Street Bridge. The removal of the old bridge and building of the new bridge is part of the "Bellevue Braids" project, which will install new ramps linking I-405 with State Route 520 and with NE 10th Street.

A new bridge had to be built higher and longer in order to accomodate the new onramps, said Gil McNabb, project engineer with the Washington Department of Transportation.

The new bridge is about two and a half feet higher and 90 feet longer, according to statistics provided by the Washington Department of Transportation.

The new bridge will also be about 40 feet wider, with room for bicyclists and pedestrians, according to the Department of Transportation.

The bridge is scheduled to be completed in summer of 2012, about the same time as the completion of the new ramps, McNabb said.

The cost of the damage to the new bridge has not been determined, but it will be covered by the contractor, McNabb said.

"It won't be additional cost to the taxpayers," McNabb said.

The cost to repair the new N.E. 12th Street bridge and extra traffic control measures is the responsibility of the contractor, Atkinson Construction, and not the state, according to the Department of Transportation.The entire project's contracted cost is $107.5 million, which is paid through a combination of federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and the 2005 state gas tax, according to the state.

 The contractor is working on interim and long-term repair plans to the NE 12th Street Bridge according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. The ultimate fix is not expected to affect the scheduled opening of the new bridge in the summer of 2012, according to the state.