Overnight bridge closures could impact newspaper deliveries next week

SHINE – Drivers are encouraged to plan ahead for a series of consecutive nights when the State Route 104 Hood Canal Bridge will close to traffic for a full six hours at a time. The extended closures allow crews to perform extensive tests on newly replaced mechanical components.

The continuous six-hour closures are in contrast to recent night closures where crews intermittently reopened the bridge to traffic. The nature of the tests and the tight timeframes needed to complete them will prohibit intermittent traffic openings.

The Hood Canal Bridge will close to all traffic during the following times:

10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, until 4 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28

10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, until 4 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29

10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, until 4 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30

10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, until 4 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1

10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, until 7 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 2 (note the closure this night could last up to nine hours).

The Washington State Department of Transportation will work with emergency responders as much as possible during the total bridge closures.

Travelers can get information about the Hood Canal Bridge via WSDOT email alerts and text messages. The service will start with a text to 468311 with the words “wsdot hood”.