Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry to be down this weekend

The Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry route will be out of service this weekend, Nov. 5-6. Plan ahead. The Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry route will be out of service this weekend, Nov. 5-6. Plan ahead. Photo: Courtesy Washington State Ferries Photo: Courtesy Washington State Ferries Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry to be down this weekend 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

If you had planned a trek back and forth between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend this coming weekend, you might want to rethink it.

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Washington State Ferries (WSF) announced recently that the route between Port Townsend and Coupeville (on Whidbey Island) will be down this weekend Nov. 5 and 6, while crews work to upgrade the dock for earthquake safety.

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The seismic retrofit work began last month, and will continue this weekend while contracted crews dismantle and reinforce the columns that support the moveable bridge that connects the dock to the boats when they land, WSF said in a news release.

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"This last phase of work requires us to shut down the only available slip at the Coupeville terminal," said Assistant Secretary for the Washington State Ferries Division Lynne Griffith, in the release. "There's never a good time to suspend service on a ferry route, but closing it for a weekend allows us to finish the repairs outside of the work week, and in time for Veteran's Day travel."

If you must travel between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island, you'll be stuck in likely long lines at the Edmonds-Kingston crossing, and then again at the Mukilteo-Clinton crossing to the south end of Whidbey Island.

Though service is planned to resume at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7, WSF has blocked reservations for that day just in case work goes longer than expected.

Check WSF's schedules and other travel notices here.

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.

