Finishing Touches: WSDOT, Crews Near Completion of New Bridge On U.S. 101

Thu June 27, 2024
WSDOT

The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and its construction crews are nearing the finish of the construction of the new Elwah River Bridge on U.S. 101 west of Port Angeles, Wash.

Following a nine-day closure where crews put some finishing touches on the $42 million construction project, the new span is now open.

Crews have built out the bridge deck, built the abutment walls that attach on each side of the bridge where it meets the land and then tied in the bridge to the existing highway. The tie-ins were what required the closure of the bridge for more than week.

The new bridge is 40-ft. wide with two, 12-foot lanes. The shoulders are 8-ft. wide to create a more comfortable crossing for travelers and provide adequate shoulder room for bicyclists and pedestrians. The new bridge meets modern earthquake standards and it also will not need to be monitored during the rainiest parts of the year. Travelers will also notice a gentler curve approaching the span.

Additional Construction

Crews will now begin demolishing the old bridge, which is nearly a century old and has reached the end of its useful lifespan. Crews also will continue installing large woody material in the river, which helps restore the river to more natural conditions. The entire project is expected to be complete in the fall.

Work to replace the bridge began in 2016. WSDOT held six community meetings between 2016 and 2018. Planning, designing and an environmental review then took place. Construction finally began on a new bridge over the Elwha River in April 2023.

For the first few months, crews spent time preparing and clearing the site and building the piers. In November 2023, crews from Ciccanti began placing the girders for the new bridge.

Need to Replace Bridge

Built in 1926, the three-span, 388-ft. concrete arch bridge has served the community for nearly 100 years. Over the last several years, the Elwha River has dramatically changed its course and flow, leading to significant erosion around the bridge foundations. As a result, WSDOT estimates the riverbed around the piers has lowered 14 ft.

The lowered riverbed revealed the piers' seals, prompting WSDOT to do borings to verify the depth of the foundations. The borings, done in October 2016, revealed the foundations are on gravel, not bedrock. This finding was in contrast to what the original 1926 engineering plans showed. As a result, WSDOT immediately installed approximately 5,000 tons of riprap (large boulders) around both piers to help prevent further erosion. Additional bridge monitoring using tilt meters, crack meters, water flow meters, surveys and visual observations are under way until the bridge can be replaced.

Additional project benefits include:

• Transit stops on both the west and east ends of the bridge, locations of which were coordinated with Clallam Transit;
• Relocating the intersection further east to provide better sight lines and intersection geometrics;
• Installing illumination at the intersection (no illumination is there presently);
• Building turn pockets on U.S. 101 to Olympic Hot Springs Road;
• Building a short acceleration lane on northbound U.S. 101 from Olympic Hot Springs Road;
• Restore the parking access that was there before with a gravel parking lot.

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.