SHINE — The Hood Canal Bridge will be closed for six continuous hours tonight and Tuesday night.
The extended closures — which began Sunday night — are to allow crews to perform extensive tests on mechanical components recently replaced for drawspan operations, the state Department of Transportation said in a news release.
The closures could mean that the Tuesday and/or Wednesday Peninsula Daily News newspapers could be delayed.
Also possibly delayed by the state’s closure of the bridge is the Sequim Gazette.
The newspapers are printed in Everett and brought over the bridge in the early morning hours.
The continuous closures are in contrast to recent night closures in which crews intermittently reopened the bridge to traffic.
The nature of the tests and the tight time frames required for the tests will prohibit any openings for traffic, Transportation said.
The Hood Canal Bridge will be closed to all traffic from:
• 10 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. Tuesday.
• 10 p.m. Tuesday until 4 a.m. Wednesday.
After the extended closures end early Wednesday morning, crews will return to doing work that allows intermittent openings for traffic.
Transportation said it will again require consecutive total night closures in the fall for additional tests.
Transportation will accommodate response vehicles “as much as possible” during the total bridge closures, the department said.
Drivers can get information about the Hood Canal Bridge via email alerts and text messages. The service will start with a text to 468311 with the words “wsdot hood.”
