Luck favors the prepared!

In case you haven’t heard, the Lower Spokane St Bridge (a.k.a. West Seattle lower bridge) is open to all pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle traffic! The swing bridge went into its ‘open for marine vessels’ position last Wednesday at 8 PM, with an expected week or more to get it back online. The key to pulling it together? A spare!

Love the spare.

The SDOT Roadway Structures team thinks about future needs and had a spare piston assembly stored in case the swing bridge ever lost its swing. Like a spare tire, the spare hydraulic cylinder got people up and traveling again, much sooner than it might otherwise take to fix a leaking piston assembly.

The spare assembly is a lot to love, about 15 tons, and took a special heavy duty forklift to move it. Thanks to United Motor Freight, Inc, located right next to the bridge, and President Jeff Landstrom, for making the emergency response vehicle available!

PM commute joy!

Around lunchtime today, Roadways Structures crews completed several test openings, with the installed spare, then picked up all the traffic control and detour signage…to swing back into business! That means the bike shuttle put in place during bridge repairs, provided its unceremonious last operation during this morning’s commute.

Thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding—and crews for your 12-hour shifts! More details to come on the originally identified problem when the damaged piston assembly is inspected later this week. Work has instead focused singularly on the efficient opening of the Spokane St Bridge, as a priority for travelers.

For more on what’s impacting traffic, visit…