Colman Dock preps for unusual weekend, modified ferry schedule
Oct 16, 2018, 5:29 AM | Updated: 5:40 am
Ferry sailings will continue to be reduced this summer. (Washington State Ferries)
(Washington State Ferries)
Your ferry trip out of Colman Dock is going to look a lot different this weekend as the musical chairs for queuing continues. Sailings are also going to be impacted.
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It’s been quite a dance at Colman Dock lately as it undergoes a major facelift, and it’s not easy to keep it operating while making those significant repairs. The ferry system’s Broch Bender said this weekend will see a major change.
“We are closing down the north half of Colman Dock for construction all weekend long,” she said.
That means drivers will be squeezed onto the south side of the dock for two days.
“All waiting vehicles for the ferry will wait on the south dock,” Bender added. “The dock will be at half capacity with overflow at Pier 48, which is our overflow vehicle holding lane just south of the dock.”
But it’s not just parking and waiting that will be impacted. The dock itself will only be operating at half-capacity.
“We’re going to be operating out of just one slip,” she said. “All arrivals and departures coming in and out of Seattle, from Bainbridge and Bremerton, will share that single slip.”
That is going to throw off the schedules for all trips between Seattle and Bremerton, and Seattle and Bainbridge. They will be working on a modified weekend schedule, and you can expect the sailings to be off by five to thirty minutes. Captains have been told to slow their crossings to allow for the delays on the Seattle side.
The dock is in the middle of a six-year facelift. Many of the wooden pilings that hold it up are 70 years old and in bad shape. They are not designed to handle a significant earthquake. Bender said they need this weekend of work to get at some of those.
“It allows us to get a head start on the next phase of work, which is pile-pulling and pile-driving,” she explained. “The work that we are doing this weekend will build a platform that will allow for a crane that will help with that work.”
Bender said you should add about 30 minutes to your trip this weekend through Colman Dock and the docks in Bremerton and Bainbridge. That’s how early you should arrive over your normal arrival to catch your boat.
