After nine years, workers have finished painting the Lewis and Clark Bridge into Longview, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The $56 million job applied five coats of special paint to the milelong span that crosses the Columbia River between Longview and Rainier, Ore. The first phase of the project wrapped up in 2004.
The bridge, at one time the longest and tallest cantilever span in the country, opened March 29, 1930.
Although the painting is complete, the traffic impacts on the two-lane bridge are not, according to WSDOT. Intermittent lane shifts will continue on weekdays until the end of this month as crews complete minor touch-up work. The agency also plans to apply new striping and replace dozens of lights on the bridge next year.
As WSDOT winds down one bridge painting project, it’s beginning another. Crews this fall began preparing to repaint the North Fork Lewis River Bridge in Woodland. That project is scheduled for completion in 2015 or 2016, according to WSDOT.
