Washington state officials appear unwilling to shift planned closures of the Hood Canal Bridge to an earlier timeframe, Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean said Monday.

County commissioners sent a letter last week to the Washington State Department of Transportation asking the state to move up repair work on the span to prevent impacts to the local economy.

Local officials and business owners have said shutting down the Hood Canal Bridge for four weekends in July and August will be a devastating gut punch to an economy still trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Many have called for the closures to be done in June.

County commissioners recently held a special meeting with state transportation officials to share their concerns over the summertime shutdown of the bridge. The state announced earlier this year the bridge will be completely closed from 11 p.m. Fridays to 4 a.m. Mondays for four consecutive weekends starting Friday, July 28. The Hood Canal Bridge is Jefferson County’s main link to Kitsap County and the Seattle area and sees a marked increase of tourist traffic to the Olympic Peninsula every summer. Roughly 12,000 drivers use the bridge on summer days, according to annual average daily traffic figures compiled by the state.

At that Feb. 23 meeting, commissioners underscored the impact the bridge shutdown would have on Jefferson County, and suggested an earlier start to the project, which involves the replacement of the center locks on the span.

Commissioners reinforced their worries in a Feb. 28 letter to Steve Roark, Region Administrator for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

“You will not be surprised to hear that we still have grave concerns about the July and August closure dates for the Hood Canal Bridge,” county commissioners wrote in the letter.

“As you heard from many of our public and private sector partners, these dates are potentially catastrophic for many of our local businesses.”

Commissioners noted that data shows bridge traffic is at its highest on weekends in July and August, and said there are fewer events in June and less traffic and travel to and from the Olympic Peninsula.

Commissioners asked that construction on the bridge be moved to June, and also pointed out that fish barrier removal projects that the Department of Transportation has planned on US Highway 101 will require closures and detours that will conflict with the state’s planned closure of the bridge on weekends in July and August.

“Having our two highways off the Peninsula inaccessible at the same time seems dangerous, at best,” commissioners said in their letter. “Additionally, the detour to Center Road would put trucks on the bridge crossing the Little Quilcene Bridge, which is closed to heavy loads due to structural issues. Trucks will either be stuck on one side of the Quilcene, or take dangerous risks in crossing.”

Commissioners also asked the state to consider adding sailings on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route during peak hours, or adding a Kingston-Edmonds boat to serve Port Townsend given the high volume of travelers on the Kingston-Edmonds route that are destined for the Olympic Peninsula.

During Monday’s meeting of the county board of commissioners, Dean said the county received a non-formal response from the Department of Transportation.

It did not contain good news. Transportation officials continue to explore limited openings for traffic during the weekend closures, basically from 8 to 9 a.m. and again at 4 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays during the four shutdowns.

“It sounds like they are really focused on trying to find ways to do openings during those four weekends closures, but not really considering a change of dates,” Dean told the board.

Commissioner Greg Brotherton said his takeaway was the deference given to the company that the Department of Transportation is hiring to do the work.

“I feel like the biggest stakeholder was the contractors,” Brotherton told his fellow commissioners.

“I can get more cynical than that. But I’ll stop myself,” Dean replied.