State will save historic bridge, block traffic all weekend

A 90-year-old bridge is going to ruin your drive through Puyallup this weekend.

State Route 167 is closing down so the Washington State Department of Transportation can remove the old Meridian Avenue Bridge.

The bridge was finally put out to pasture in June when the new northbound span over the Puyallup River opened to traffic. That left the steel truss bridge just sitting there, looking sad, corroded and useless.

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“We’re going to be picking up a no-longer-used bridge &#8212 moving it 15 feet through the air with a system of jacks &#8212 and then they’re going to place it on the new bridge onto a dolly system,” Doug Adamson with the Washington State Department of Transportation explained.

Weighing in at 379 tons, the old bridge won’t be going anywhere fast.

“This span, because it’s so big, will only move about four feet an hour. So really, it’s going to be moving pretty slowly,” Adamson said. “While it’s remarkable to move that much weight…it’s really not going to move that quickly.”

Even though the bridge is only going a short distance, it will force the closure of both north and southbound directions of SR 167 through Puyallup.

“We’re asking people to consider traveling early in the morning, traveling later in the evening, getting to know the detour routes around the area. Because this is a major route, a lot of people don’t use both northbound and southbound SR 167,” Adamson said.

The primary detour route is SR 512 through Puyallup and back up Meridian to River Road.

Why not just demolish the bridge and save drivers a headache? It turns out the bridge has historical significant and the state is trying to save it.

“We’re working with local governments to see if it’s possible that we could potentially use this bridge again in another location &#8212 perhaps along a trail for pedestrians and bicyclists,” Adamson said.

The closures through Puyallup begin Friday at 8 p.m.