U.S. 2 trestle work is finished

EVERETT — Attention drivers: You have your trestle back.

Major work on the underbelly of westbound U.S. 2 came to an end earlier this month.

On and off since June, state Department of Transportation workers had been closing the lanes heading toward Everett at night. Crews were able to finish the job after only 25 nights of ramp and lane shutdowns, not the 65 originally expected.

“From the top, it didn’t look like there was a lot going on,” state Transportation Department spokeswoman Bronlea Mishler said. “From underneath, there was quite a hubbub of activity; there were lots of crews working, wedged up there under the girders.”

The project involved repairing 844 damaged girders.

Crews built scaffolding to reach parts of the roadway about 20 feet above the ground. They tapped the walls with a hammer, listening for hollow spots, then chipped out any weak concrete.

Crews repaired exposed rebar, replaced concrete on the girders and sealed them to make them waterproof.

The project cost about $7.5 million, including design, prep work and construction.

Now, the job is mostly done.

“At this point, it’s just minor cleanup, removing signs, making sure all the equipment they used is torn down and out of the way,” Mishler said.

About about 70,000 vehicles per day use this section of U.S. 2 in both directions.

The westbound side of the trestle was built in 1968. The state decided to do the recent work because girders underneath the roadway have been slowly deteriorating for more than 20 years.

The new work is expected to preserve them until 2026 or longer.

No further work is planned for some time.

“Any project we do, we do with a 20- to 30-year design life in mind,” Mishler said.

The eastbound portion of the trestle was built with timber in the 1930s and rebuilt in sections in the 1990s. The entire trestle received a seismic retrofit job in 1994.

Several more projects are planned on U.S. 2 in Snohomish County over the coming year. This winter, crews will start building a roundabout at Rice Road in Sultan to improve traffic flow and safety.

Next summer, construction is scheduled to begin on a new crossing from Bickford Avenue to westbound U.S. 2. That work to improve a dangerous crossing carries a price tag of about $19.7 million.

At the same time, state crews are planning to replace culverts under U.S. 2 between Ebey Slough and Bickford Avenue.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.

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