Tri-City drivers brace for nighttime blue bridge closures

The northbound lanes over the blue bridge will shut down overnight starting May 18 so crews can repair and repave Pasco’s Lewis Street highway overpass.

The Washington Department of Transportation will close the northbound lanes of Highway 395 at the intersection with Highway 240 in Kennewick between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. each night through May 24, said Moe Davari, project engineer for the Washington Department of Transportation.

All northbound traffic on Highway 395 will be rerouted to Columbia Drive and the cable bridge. No southbound closures are planned.

The nights of May 19 to 22, eastbound drivers on Highway 240 will be allowed to drive north on Highway 395 as far as the Lewis Street exit.

The closure is part the state’s $6 million program to repave seven miles of road through the heart of the Tri-Cities.

Work began May 9 on Interstate 182 at Burbank in Walla Walla County.

That work was completed a week ago and crews are shifting their attention to the Highway 395 corridor.

The I-182 interchanges at Roads 68 and 100 in Pasco and at Queensgate Boulevard in Richland will be repaved, as well.

All remaining work will take place at night, Davari said.

The blue bridge lane closures will allow crews to work on the Lewis Street overpass just north of the bridge, not the blue bridge itself. Central Washington Asphalt will remove asphalt, inspect and repair the bridge deck and then repave it.

The single span, girder-style bridge has carried Pasco drivers over the highway since it was built in 1953.

“The bridge overall is in good condition. But we need to take care of that deck,” Davari said.

Davari said residents may notice a period of seeming inactivity at the Lewis overpass site on Saturday. Something will be happening, he said.

“We have to allow the concrete some cure time.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Tri-City drivers brace for nighttime blue bridge closures."