HOLD THAT THOUGHT! The bypass is ready, but due to temporary height restrictions on First Avenue South it will now open later next week. Bridge construction will start shortly thereafter.
To reduce impacts to the traveling public during the East Marginal Way at Horton Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project, the team has built a temporary bypass road – complete with paving and striping – immediately adjacent to where traffic would normally be.
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The bypass road is just to the west (see map) of the bridge and is expected to open tomorrow morning, June 24, by 7 a.m.
The bypass road is possible thanks to an easement from the Port of Seattle. Previously the area was fenced off and utilized for parking.
Now that the bypass preparation work is wrapping up, physical demolition and construction on the East Marginal Way at Horton Street Bridge can begin. That work is expected to be complete in September of this year. The first step is to demolish the old structure – which probably doesn’t look like a bridge to many who drive on it. It used to be, before the early 1970s, but that’s when the Port changed the usage of Terminal 28 from a slip for cargo ships to a filled area to accommodate cargo storage. The Seattle Municipal Archives photos below, from 1932, show how the area of East Marginal Way at S Horton Street used to look.
When the current project is complete, all vestiges of the original bridge structure will be gone and any remaining cavities filled to create a firm solid bridgeless surface.
