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Earthquake retrofits pay off for King County
 County bridge inspectors
John Lyou (left above) and Len Juhnke find the Kanaskat Arch Bridge over
the Green River east of Black Diamond in good shape after last week's
earthquake. Meanwhile, crews work to regrade the Veazie-Cumberland
Road north of Enumclaw (right) to cover a water pipe exposed by the quake.
King County’s program to retrofit roads and bridges to meet
earthquake standards paid off last week.
"We targeted our work to a standard that ensures roads and bridges
can be returned to service quickly," says Jim Markus, supervising
engineer of King County’s bridge unit. "I’m pleased that those
bridges we retrofitted performed very well, especially since this a county
that doesn’t have a lot of redundant routes in the unincorporated
areas."
King County is halfway through a 14-year,
$14.7-million bridge retrofit program, with work completed on about 70 of
the highest-priority, most vulnerable of the county’s 140 bridges.
Among the bridges for which earthquake retrofitting
may have prevented major damage are: South Twin Bridge, Neeley Bridge,
West Kenmore Bridge, East Kenmore Bridge, Patton Bridge, Cedar Grove
Bridge, Mt. Si Bridge, Hidden Lake Bridge, Duvall Slough Bridge, Stossel
Creek Bridge, Money Creek Bridge, Peter Western Bridge, Cherry Valley
Bridge, Brissack Bridge, Cherry Creek Bridge, Judd Creek Bridge, Ames
Lake Bridge, Inglewood Bridge, four bridges on the Woodinville-Duvall
Road, NE 124thStreet Bridge, Kanaskat Arch Bridge, and Preston
Frontage Road Bridge.
Two King County bridges need repairs:
- The Tolt River Bridge near Carnation is of older
design and construction with a concrete roadway on top of timber
support piles. It was not retrofitted because it is scheduled for
replacement within the next five years. The bridge was already closed
through Tuesday for timber repair; the quake damaged the concrete and
that repair work will be piggybacked on top of the timber work. There
is no estimate yet for completion. For detour routes motorists should
use SR-202 through Fall City, SR-203 and West Snoqualmie River Road.
- The South Park Bridge is conditionally open while
assessment work begins to determine how to repair quake damage.
Bridge engineers estimate an additional 40 aging
bridges will need replacing over the next 20 years.
Related links
"Project Impact partnership helps King,
Pierce Counties resist quake damage," news release
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