Information from Seattle Department of Transportation

Following successful repairs and testing of the Spokane St Swing Bridge (low bridge), the bridge reopens this afternoon, Friday, Jan. 13. Crews have already begun removing fencing and traffic control equipment around the bridge, and expect to finish removing signs and barricades by 2 PM.

Through extensive collaboration and long hours, we made major progress over the past 21 days to bring the low bridge back into operation. This effort included building a cradle to successfully remove a damaged 15,000-pound cylinder, repairing underground conduit, and replacing valves and hoses on the eastern bridge span’s hydraulic power unit (HPU). We also completed reprograming and testing of the bridge’s movable spans using one less cylinder, to ensure safe and effective operations.

While we expect the reopened bridge to operate safely and effectively, if issues arise with the newly installed equipment, we are even better prepared. And don’t forget, we have more work planned this year as part of the Spokane St Swing Bridge Rehabilitation Program. We’ll continue to share updates about upcoming work and closures.

Temporary bike detour update

With the low bridge reopening today to people biking, walking, rolling, and driving, we will remove the temporary bike detour route on 1st Ave S, as planned. This will take place on Saturday, Jan. 14. With more than 1,700 traffic cones and hundreds of signs involved, completing this all-day work on a Saturday is safer both for our crews and the traveling public, and avoids conflicting with weekday peak traffic.

However, we will keep the temporary protected bike lane along West Marginal Way SW in its current configuration, including the large orange barrels currently marking the route, and continue conversations with nearby businesses and community members about a protected bike lane in this location.

Please see the map below for additional details.

We appreciate everyone staying alert and traveling safely along the detour route and providing feedback on how complicated intersections could be enhanced. We have learned a lot by working through the challenges of building these temporary improvements so quickly, and we expect these lessons to help us to be more agile and responsive during future bridge closures and to influence how the planned Georgetown to Downtown Protected Bike Lane is designed.

Transit GO Rewards update

For people using the Transit GO Ticket app to earn free bus and water taxi trips during the low bridge closure: please note that the reward code and its associated transit fares campaign will expire today at 2 PM when the low bridge reopens.

Any points already earned through this code won’t expire but will become inactive after 6 months of inactivity on the Transit GO app rewards tab. At the end of each month, if your status remains inactive, 300 points will be deducted from your account and returned to the provider.

All other rewards campaigns within the Transit GO app are still available to you if you’re interested in more ways to earn rides – information is available in the app for your use as well as on the King County Metro Transit GO web page. We again appreciate the support of the voter-approved Seattle Transit Measure for helping fund these transit trips during the low bridge closure and for the collaboration of our partners at King County Metro.