EVERETT — Travelers on Mukilteo Boulevard between Everett and Mukilteo soon will have to take the long way around, for a long time.
The replacement of Edgewater Bridge, a vital link between the two cities, will take a year. It severs all traffic — motorist, cyclist and pedestrian — both ways.
“We anticipate construction activities will start toward the end of this summer,” Everett Public Works spokesperson Kathleen Baxter said in an email.
The project is set to cost about $34 million, she said. Of this, $28 million is from federal bridge program grants and $6 million in local dollars. The original estimate for the project, which has undergone delays for several years, was $22 million. The City Council awarded the contract to Granite Construction, one of two bidders, on May 29.
About 6,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily for school, work and play. They have no other way to cross Edgewater Creek or the surrounding steep ravine.
Traffic will be mostly detoured along Glenwood Avenue, Merrill Creek Parkway, Highway 525 and Highway 526. The closure will detour Mukilteo School District buses that transport Everett students, as well as a city bus to the Mukilteo waterfront. Mukilteo Speedway will be the main road to the ferry terminal.
“It is going to be an inconvenience,” said Paul Dernier, a Boulevard Bluffs resident and Boeing worker. “Every day I take it to work. I eat down in Mukilteo. We are in the bottom of the horseshoe. You have to go all the way around. And it’s a year project. Oh, my God.”
Edgewater Bridge was built in 1946 and has reached the end of its useful life.
The bridge is safe for daily use, but it operates under weight restrictions and is vulnerable to failure in a major earthquake, according to city reports.
Edgewater is one of three major bridges on Mukilteo Boulevard. Engineering assessments determined Edgewater and the Merrill and Ring Creek Bridge needed to be replaced. The third bridge, Maple Heights, underwent seismic retrofitting in 2020.
If two of the three bridges were impacted, portions of several neighborhoods could be completely isolated with no road access in or out, creating what are known as “population islands.”
The new Edgewater Bridge will have 12-foot travel lanes in each direction, 6½-foot sidewalks on each side and 5-foot bike lanes. Community input was incorporated into the design.
Edgewater Park, at the corner of Shore Avenue and Mukilteo Boulevard, will be renovated after the new bridge is complete.
More at everettwa.gov/edgewater.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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