SPOKANE, Wash. – On Monday, all southbound lanes of the Washington Street Bridge will close for construction, and they could remain closed for a while.
The city expects the project to continue until August, but part of the bridge will reopen before then.
All southbound lanes will be closed entirely at the start of the project, with only one northbound lane remaining open.
At some point during the project, construction will move to the east side of the bridge, shutting down all northbound lanes while reopening one southbound lane.
On the south side, construction is not expected to extend past Spokane Falls Boulevard, and on the north side, it should not go past North Upriver Drive.
The city states that the bridge needs deck repair and joint expansion work.
Even though the project could take a while, efforts are being made to keep at least one lane open to allow traffic to filter through.
“It’s hard to do one lane at a time the way a bridge is, so that’s the goal,” said Kirstin Davis with the city of Spokane. “To be able to allow some traffic at some point so that we’re not completely closing it off.”