Taxpayers to foot over $70 million bill for 520 bridge fixes
Jul 30, 2013, 12:23 PM | Updated: 5:05 pm
The cracked pontoons and design errors that have plagued the new SR 520 bridge project have cost the state over $70 million, the Washington State Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
WSDOT will pay $48.8 million to bridge contractor Kiewit/General/Manson to fix cracks in four of the first six bridge pontoons.
The repairs have been underway since June to keep the project moving forward.
Fixing the design flaws that led to the cracks will cost another $22.4 million. The changes added increased supports to four pontoons while they were being completed in Aberdeen prior to their float-out in April, the WSDOT says.
The money will come from a risk reserve developed to address unanticipated problems and costs. WSDOT says the rainy-day fund still has $100 million remaining.
WSDOT fired one engineer and demoted another earlier this year for the mistakes.
The current budget for the project remains at $2.7 billion. The problems pushed back the planned completion date by months. The new bridge is now scheduled to open to traffic in late 2015 or early 2016.
