New bridge over Salmon Creek opens

Engineer Brian Burnham celebrates the opening of the new bridge over Salmon Creek on Friday with some fruit and vegetables. (ZACHARY KAUFMAN/The Columbian)

Pageantry was in short supply minutes before Clark County road workers cleared away barriers to reopen Highway 99 across Salmon Creek.

Grace Harris was the first driver queued up on the north side of the bridge barrier.

She had been there just a few minutes, intent on taking her visiting brother to the Friday night special at Carol’s Corner Cafe, and was less than thrilled at earning the distinction as the first motorist across the bridge.

“If it hurries up,” she said. “I’ve got a dinner date.”

At 4:50 p.m., to the whoops of county workers and contractors, Harris led the first trickle of traffic across the $15.6 million bridge. The old bridge accommodated an average of 17,000 vehicles daily at the time it closed due to safety considerations last December.

The project also included major road improvements on Highway 99 between Northeast 117th and Northeast 122nd avenues, including medians planted with trees and shrubs.

Workers also improved 650 feet of stream under the bridge, widening the channel by about 10 feet. They also placed boulders across the creek, creating a series of pools that should allow easier passage for salmon.

The bridge replaces a structure originally built in 1927.

Bridge designer Doug Sarkkinen, principal with Kramer, Gehlen and Associates in Vancouver, marked Friday’s occasion by laying out a spread of appetizers on one of the span’s two observation decks. The old bridge had its problems — the creek undermined a bridge pier that had been sunk into the middle of the channel — but Sarkkinen wasn’t about to criticize the old bridge’s designers.

“For it’s time, it was designed OK,” he said.

The new concrete bridge spans the creek, anchored atop two sets of six 4-foot-diameter shafts. The shafts have been drilled 45 feet into a stable geological formation. Its design life is 75 years, engineers said.

It has four travel lanes, a center median, bicycle lanes, curb/gutter, sidewalks and two pedestrian overlooks with views of Salmon Creek. This new structure is wider, longer and much safer for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, county project manager Linda Small said.

Finishing work will continue at the bridge for several more weeks. There still may be periodic lane closures to protect workers, but the bridge will remain open to two-way traffic at all times, according to the county.

To view a photo history of the bridge construction from April through September, visit the project Web site at www.clark.wa.gov/klineline. The photo gallery includes high-resolution, downloadable photos.