The in basket: A Feb. 2 story in this newspaper about hopes that
the pedestrian and bicycle pathway on the Warren Avenue Bridge in
Bremerton could be widened mentioned in passing that a repaving of
the bridge in 2017 would be a good time to accomplish that if
engineers can find a way to do it and a funding source can be
identified by then.
I wondered if the bridge’s days as a patch-work quilt are about to
end.
The driving surface has been a jumble of patches since an
experimental product was used in the 1980s to repave it. I have
been told by state bridge engineers that the surface, for all its
unsightliness, has accomplished its main goal of protecting the
steel structure beneath. And I can’t say the the ride is a rough as
it looks like it would be.
An earlier news story said the work would be part of the repaving
of much of Highway 303, known variously as Waaga Way and Wheaton
Way, which includes the bridge. I asked what kind of surface would
replace the current one.
The out basket: None, as it turns out. Initial plans to resurface
the bridge as part of the work have changed, Neil Campbell of the
state Department of Transportation told a Bremerton audience
Thursday night. Instead, continued repairs and patching of its
driving surface will be done while traffic control for the paving
on either end of it is in place, said Claudia Bingham-Baker of the
Olympic Region of state highways.
“In the 2017 construction season,” she said, “we plan to pave SR
303 between NE William E. Sutton Road and SR 304 (Burwell Street)
in Bremerton.
“The current plan is to exclude the Warren Avenue bridge deck from
that paving project. That is not unusual, as bridge decks are
usually excluded from paving projects because their surfaces are
paved with different materials, and require different equipment and
different expertise than roadway paving.
“The ‘experimental product’ used on the deck in the 1980s was a
polyester concrete mix. At the time, it was a relatively new
product but has been used many times since. It does require the
correct application conditions and techniques to be effective, and
on the Warren Avenue Bridge the concrete did not set up as we would
have hoped. The result has been patches to the bridge deck
ever since.
“During the 2017 paver, we will take advantage of the traffic
control to do more deck patching and surface repairs.
“In the meantime, the city is contemplating changing pedestrian
access across the bridge deck. Although we own the bridge, the city
has operational control of the bridge, and we are waiting to see
what changes they choose to pursue, what funding sources can be
secured, and if those plans would require any changes to our paving
project.”