Community Transportation

Lane closures this week on Highway 16, Fox Island Bridge

Maintenance and road work will disrupt drivers in at least three locations around Gig Harbor the week of Aug. 19. They include: 

Highway 16 in Purdy

Beginning the evening of Monday, Aug. 19, work on a new bridge carrying Highway 16 over Purdy Creek will force overnight lane closures. The lane closures will allow trucks to remove soil and other material from the stream channel.

The Washington State Department of Transportation expects to close single lanes in both directions of Highway 16 near Highway 302 between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. weekdays through Sept. 6.

The work is part of a project to replace a culvert the previously carried Purdy Creek under the highway with a bridge. WSDOT expects work to wrap up this fall after two years of construction.

Highway 16 at Purdy. Photo by WSDOT via Flickr

Fox Island Bridge  

An inspection of the Fox Island Bridge will reduce the span to a single lane between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20. Flaggers will direct traffic through the single lane, but delays are expected.  

Pierce County will inspect the bottom of the bridge deck, girders and the piers that support the bridge with the aid of an under-bridge inspection truck. 

Pierce County is currently conducting a size, type and location study on possibly replacing the bridge. The eventual replacement could cost $250 million. 

The Fox Island Bridge

Narrows Bridge 

Eastbound lanes of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge will close overnight this week while maintenance crews replace and test toll equipment. 

Vehicles will be routed through the toll booth plaza before continuing across the bridge. The closures will be in effect from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. nightly Monday through Friday (Aug. 19 through Aug. 22). 

Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll booths