Kraemer North America will start construction this year and the bridge is scheduled to reopen in mid-2022.
The West Seattle High-Rise Bridge was closed to protect public safety in March 2020 after city engineers discovered rapidly growing cracks in multiple locations. Seattle Department of Tranportation (SDOT) immediately set to work on stabilisation, including installing 16km of taut steel cable inside the bridge, repairing a deformed bearing in the Pier 18 support structure and wrapping the structure in carbon fibre in multiple locations.
The decision was taken in November 2020 to repair, rather than replace, the bridge (link opens in new tab).
The emergency measures, which were completed by late 2020, have succeeded in halting the cracks from growing larger but additional work is needed to strengthen the bridge to support the weight and stress of daily traffic.
The repair contract will rehabilitate both the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge (high bridge) and the Spokane St Swing Bridge (low bridge).
