West Seattle Bridge can be repaired but SDOT has not yet reached their decision
The second meeting of the West Seattle Bridge Task Force revealed some new information on June 17. First, Matt Donahue, Seattle's primary bridge engineer revealed that hairline cracks continue to form on the bridge, even with no live load. Donahue said, "We can fix the bridge but the question is, should we? A cost benefit analysis on that question will be done by this fall." The decision will come later. If they do, it could open in 2022 but might only offer limited service, meaning fewer lanes.
Crack width and crack slippage are being monitored and if certain thresholds are reached regarding speed of change of amount of change key team members are immediately notified. Donahue said his team and others would call 911 in the event of catastrophic failure but for now that's still not likely.
