Wednesday, July 10, 2013 6:00 am
By Kate Martin @Kate_SVH
Construction equipment and supplies are moving into the area north of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge as the contractor prepares to build a permanent replacement for the span that fell May 23 after a truck with a high load struck several trusses.
Spokane contractor Max J. Kuney Construction has brought in a crane by barge and has stored some equipment in the Dike District 12 lot northeastof the bridge, said Jay Drye, assistant regional administrator for the state Department of Transportation. The company had to widen the levee access road to allow room for another crane on top of the flood-protection structure, Drye said.
The permanent span, which will have the same width as the rest of the bridge, will be built west of the temporary bridge. Kuney will also install pilings upriver of the bridge, Drye said. When the permanent span is completed — sometime after Labor Day but before Oct. 1 — the company will slide the temporary span off of the piers and move the permanent span into place.
For now, construction activity will be “pretty slow for quite some time,” he said. The company continues to create designs for the permanent span.
“We are working on a lot of the details,” Drye said.
Max J. Kuney had the winning bid of $6.9 million last month. Four companies bid on the span’s construction.
For more stories and videos about the bridge collapse, visit http://skagit.ws/bridgecollapse.
– Reporter Kate Martin: 360-416-2145,kmartin@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Kate_SVH,facebook.com/KateReports.