Divers replacing anchors that keep I-90 bridge from floating away
May 11, 2015, 9:01 AM | Updated: May 12, 2015, 9:12 am
Workers began replacing 21 frayed and corroded anchor cables on the I-90 floating bridge on May 11. (Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation)
(Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation)
Major construction work started Monday on the I-90 floating bridge, but drivers won’t see a thing. Almost all of the work is being done under water.
Deep sea divers commenced a three-month project to replace 21 frayed and corroding anchor cables that hold the floating bridge to the lake bed. There are more than 100 of these cables holding the I-90 floating bridge in place.
The cables are more than a quarter century old and are vital to the safety of the bridge and drivers.
“They do help stabilize that bridge in heavy winds and rain and with traffic loads,” said Kris Olsen with the Department of Transportation. “It helps keep [the bridge] in place.”
The cables range in size from 310 to 750 feet. The drivers will need to go down nearly 200 feet to disconnect the cables and replace them from the lake bed.
“They have to go down to the bottom and disconnect this cable and then it has to be reeled up,” Olsen said. Divers will then connect a new cable and tighten it up from the pontoon.
Olsen said the public shouldn’t have to deal with many disruptions during the process.
“We might see a lane closed overnight when they’re moving some equipment, but for the most part it’s going to take place on a work barge and from inside the pontoons,” she said.
A similar project was performed on the 520 bridge in 2010. Divers replaced 30 anchor cables during that project.
