EVERETT — The expected opening of the new Edgewater Bridge, which connects Mukilteo to Everett, has been delayed until early 2026, Everett Public Works announced Friday.

The closure was initially estimated to last about a year, with opening planned for late 2025. But unexpected underground conditions, the city wrote in a project update Friday, affected the construction schedule. Although many of those issues have been addressed, the city said, the new bridge is now expected to open early in the new year, with work continuing on the bridge through the first quarter of 2026.

“While the timeline has shifted slightly, we’re optimistic that the next phase will bring steadier progress,” the project update read. “We are working closely with the contractor to make up time wherever possible.”

The main cause of the current delays were difficulties with subsurface work, wrote Everett Public Works spokesperson Kathleen Baxter in an email Monday. While building the project, workers had to install steel piling — a structure used to hold back soil or water during construction — to create a temporary work bridge needed to complete the permanent one.

But the installation of the steel piling was slowed by unexpected underground obstructions, Baxter wrote, including old timber and concrete left behind from a previous bridge structure.

“These obstructions required additional time and care to safely navigate, adding complexity to an already challenging task in steep and unstable terrain,” she wrote.

The city had delayed starting construction of the bridge multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an environmental review. Initially looked at as a 2022 project, it was delayed until summer 2023, then to mid-2024. The city first closed the bridge for construction in October 2024.

Demolition of the existing bridge began Monday. It is expected to take several weeks and “will be noisy and involve heavy equipment,” the city wrote in a release. The start of the demolition marked “a dramatic and highly visible turning point in the project,” the city wrote.

The Edgewater Bridge, built in 1946, was a critical connection between Everett and Mukilteo. Before its closure, about 6,000 vehicles crossed it every day.

But the old bridge needed to be replaced. City reports found it was vulnerable to failure in the event of a major earthquake. The bridge was also “functionally obsolete,” a City Council document read, because of its narrow traffic lanes and sidewalks.

The new bridge will have 12-foot lanes in each direction, 6.5-foot sidewalks on each side and 5-foot bike lanes.

A total of $34.9 million has been set aside for the project. Much of that money — about $25 million — comes from a federal bridge fund. The city is contributing about $6 million in local funds.

A proposed ordinance would allow the city to spend just over $4 million in proceeds from limited tax general obligation bonds on the project. Those dollars would be used to offset planned spending from the city’s traffic mitigation fund. The City Council could vote on that ordinance on May 21.

The city issued a total of $28 million worth of limited tax general obligation bonds in March. Other projects the bonds will help pay for include improvements to Everett’s municipal building and renovations to the city’s waterfront. Issuing bonds for construction projects is routine for municipalities.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.