The Grand Avenue Park Bridge has been moved and set. The contractor worked overnight to prepare for moving and placing the bridge. By 6 a.m. the southwest lifting tower had been removed, but the southeast tower was still in place. After contemplating maneuvering around the southeast tower, the contractor decided to disassemble and remove it.
The bridge began moving shortly after 9 a.m. and after smoothly backing up to clear the north towers, it began its sweeping 90-degree turn. The bridge was set on the bearings on the east and west abutments around 12:30 p.m. The contractor reopened the waterfront pedestrian walkway by 2 p.m. The contractor cleared all their material off the railroad tracks before 8:00 PM as required within the BNSF track closure window.
"The moving and placement of the bridge today went exceptionally well, said Heather Griffin, City of Everett project manager. The contractor followed the schedule they set, and, most importantly, the bridge was successfully set on its bearings. We couldn't ask for a better outcome."
The contractor will open West Marine View Drive Friday, September 27th at 5:00 a.m. with at least one lane in each direction as it was prior to the full closure.
The contractor has received permission from Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railway to continue work into the railroad’s fourth quarter moratorium on over track work to pour concrete for the pedestrian path. Thee contractor anticipates will beginning that work on Monday, September 30th. Work will continue over the next several months to complete the project.
We will be posting time lapse videos of the bridge span lifting, movement, and placement sequence over next few days. Please check our project webpage for updates at https://everettwa.gov/1023/Grand-Avenue-Park-Bridge.
The City is grateful to our many project partners without whom this would not have been possible, including Interwest Construction Inc., their specialized moving contractor Oxbow Mega Transport, BNSF, the Port of Everett, Snohomish County PUD, Lombardi’s restaurant and the people of Everett.