The Port of Hood River has scheduled two weekly full-height lifts of the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge to occur every Friday between 4:00AM and 5:00AM for the purpose of tensioning and testing the newly installed wire ropes on the bridge’s lift span. Port crews will perform two back-to-back full height lifts of the span, each lasting approximately 25 minutes, during the hour starting at 4:00AM every Friday through May of 2024.

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Hamilton Construction Co. and Bulldog Welding have completed their work ahead of schedule. The Hood River-White Salmon Bridge will open to vehicle traffic at 5:30PM on Monday, November 6. Congratulations to Hamilton Construction and Bulldog Welding crews for a job well done despite terrible weather conditions for most of the work time.

Thank you to everyone for your patience and cooperation during the extended closure.

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New single lane closure scheduled for the evening of November 1

HOOD RIVER, OR – Hamilton Construction Co. has cancelled the remaining single lane closures of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge that were scheduled for the week of October 23-27. They have scheduled a new single lane closure for the evening of Wednesday, November 1 to make preparations for the wire rope replacement project. That closure will start at 8:00 p.m. and continue through 5:30 a.m. the following morning. Flaggers will be on the bridge to direct traffic around the moving work zone. Motorists should expect delays of up to 30 minutes depending on traffic volume.

SINGLE LANE CLOSURE:

Wednesday, November 1 from 8:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on 2ndsingle lane closure – flaggers on bridge.

4-DAY TOTAL CLOSURE NOVEMBER 3-6:  

The bridge will be closed to all traffic for four consecutive days, beginning at 12:01 a.m. the morning of Friday, November 3 through 11:59 p.m. the night of Monday, November 6. During this 96-hour period, crews from Hamilton Construction will remove, replace, and adjust the tension in the wire ropes that support the bridge lift counterweights. The work is not weather dependent and will be underway continuously during the closure.

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The Hood River-White Salmon Interstate bridge will be closed to all traffic for four consecutive days, beginning at 12:01 a.m. the morning of Friday, November 3 through 11:59 p.m. the night of Monday, November 6. During this 96-hour period, crews from Hamilton Construction will remove, replace, and adjust the tension in the wire ropes that support the bridge lift counterweights. The work is not weather dependent and will be underway continuously during the closure.

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Broken gear box had caused marine traffic limitations

HOOD RIVER, OR – After an inner secondary oil seal came loose in the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge’s south lift tower gear box and locked up the gears on July 21, the Port of Hood River requested the U.S. Coast Guard to issue a Notice to Mariners of a temporary closure of the bridge lift until repairs were complete. On August 3, local contractor Sky-Comm removed the broken gear box and electric motor from the south tower and shipped it to Philadelphia Gear in Pasco, WA for diagnostics and repair, which was completed on August 28. On September 6, Sky-Comm hoisted, reassembled, and aligned the gear box and motor assembly on the tower. Port staff tested the system on September 7 and the bridge lift was reopened for mariners. Total cost for the repairs was  $15,000, and vehicle traffic on the bridge was disrupted temporarily on August 3 and September 6 for hoisting of the machinery. The cause of the damage is regular wear and tear on the machinery which appears to be original to the lift.

Bridge lift tower gear box and motor assembly

Assembly being hoisted off the south lift tower

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