Lane, ramp closures on blue bridge planned next week

Traffic could be slowed on the blue bridge Nov. 16-19 while state Department of Transportation crews replace a damaged guardrail.

The right lane of the Highway 395 north bridge over the Columbia River will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The Columbia Drive on-ramp to the northbound bridge also will be closed at that time.

It was not immediately clear whether the repairs are related to four separate injury collisions that snarled traffic Nov. 8 on or near the bridge, including three within 22 minutes.

The collisions started at 1:15 p.m., when Leslie A. Gordian-Torres, 17, of Pasco, lost control of her car while merging onto Highway 395 north from Highway 240, state patrol said. She collided with a guardrail and light pole.

Two other collisions happened soon after when drivers on the southbound bridge crashed into stopped traffic, state patrol said. A fourth crash was reported that evening.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Lane, ramp closures on blue bridge planned next week."