Crews clean the Agate Pass Bridge on Feb. 19, 2015. The bridge connecting Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula will be down to one lane again during daytime hours, Feb. 16 to Feb. 26.

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By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — The Agate Pass Bridge, which until last year hadn't been cleaned since 1991, will get another traffic-delaying wash job next month — and every year thereafter.

The bridge will be reduced to alternating one-way traffic for 11 straight days — Feb. 16-26. Work hours will be constrained to 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to reduce impacts on commuter ferry traffic.

The job is too dangerous to do at night. Crews will use under-bridge inspection trucks to maneuver around and through the steel truss to clean tight spaces that accumulate debris.

"We know that daytime closures will cause traffic delays, but we believe they are absolutely necessary," state Department of Transportation Assistant Region Administrator Troy Cowan said. "Our first priority is to do everything we can to make sure the crews, the equipment, the driving public and the bridge are not damaged during this critical work."

The Department of Ecology is allowing transportation workers to rinse off dirt and animal droppings instead of shoveling it into trucks, provided it's performed annually. Previously, the bridge would have had to be encased to be flushed, which is prohibitively expensive. That explains why it hadn't been done for so long and why crews hauled away tons of crud last year. It took them 20 days.

"First, we have to get all the big chunks of dirt off by hand," transportation spokeswoman Claudia Bingham Baker said. "Then when most of the dirt is off we will flush it."

A pilot project determined the method creates no environmental problems.

Flaggers at each end will direct traffic across the bridge. Bicyclists and pedestrians will be escorted. State troopers will control flow at the Highway 305-Suquamish Way intersection.

During last year's work, waits averaged 10 to 20 minutes. Drivers are asked to delay discretionary trips, travel during nonwork hours or avoid the bridge altogether. Ferry riders are encouraged to add time to reach the Bainbridge terminal, or switch to the Bremerton or Kingston routes.

The bridge, which was built in 1950, carries 22,000 vehicles a day. Cleaning it is important because dirt and rust can hide potential problems.

Besides doing the cleaning, crews will replace the navigational light system with LED lights, build access hatches for maintenance crews, remove rust and paint. Bridge engineers also will conduct an interim bridge inspection. More than 20 bridges throughout the Olympic Region will be cleaned for inspection in 2016, including the Hood Canal bridge approaches.