Hood Canal Bridge closure looms

When the Hood Canal Bridge closes May 1 for six weeks of repairs, a fleet of ferries and buses will strive to keep travelers on the move.

The bridge serves an average 15,000 vehicles per weekday and 20,000 on a weekend day. About one-third of the drivers will sit out the closure, and the state hopes another 5,000 or so switch to transit, to prevent congestion on surrounding highways, said Becky Hixson, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.

The rusting east side of the 1-½-mile floating bridge will be replaced, along with fixed trusses on the west and east ends. Most of the west side was replaced in 1982, after it sank in a 1979 windstorm.

During the closure, drivers will still be able to reach the Olympic Peninsula via Olympia, or cross the Tacoma Narrows and go around the canal to Highway 101.

But it will also be possible to ride buses and ferries from Silverdale, Bainbridge Island or Kingston, for free, all the way to Port Angeles or Port Townsend. State taxpayers are spending $10 million to supply alternatives to driving, out of a total project budget of $500 million.

• Peninsula side: Clallam Transit will operate an express route from Port Angeles and Sequim to the canal shore, at South Point.

• Cross-canal: A pair of 149-person passenger ferries will go from South Point to the east shore, at Lofall. There is no direct car, bicycle or pedestrian access; riders must reach the water shuttle by bus from nearby park-and-ride lots, or points beyond.

• Kitsap side: A park-and-ride lot is at Port Gamble, for water-shuttle users. Starline luxury buses will fan out from Lofall in three directions — to Silverdale, through Poulsbo to Bainbridge, and through Port Gamble to Kingston.

• Medical bus: Patients and people using wheelchairs can reserve a ride from Port Angeles and Port Townsend to Seattle (via Whidbey Island and Mukilteo), or from Lofall to Bremerton.

• Twilight ferry from Edmonds. Sunday through Thursday nights, one round-trip will leave Edmonds at 8:45 p.m., and leave Port Townsend at 11 p.m. The run is designed mainly for delivery trucks serving the Port Townsend Paper mill; car-ferry users should make reservations.

Call 877-595-4222 for reservations, or check the canal-area transit map at wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr104hoodcanalbridgeeast/transit/.

In the original version of this story, published April 22, 2009, the article incorrectly stated that it would be possible to ride buses and ferries from Bremerton or Bainbridge Island, for free, all the way to Port Angeles or Port Townsend.