Unanimous Vote to Move Forward with Historic Bridge Restoration
by Dennis Rahm
Chelan’s historic Woodin Avenue Bridge, built in 1927 and also referred to as the “old” bridge, will soon be getting a facelift. During a Wednesday night special City Council meeting, the council voted unanimously to award the $3,159,528 contract to Selland Construction of Wenatchee. When factoring other expenses such as engineering, the total cost of the project is just over $3.9 million.
Even though the vote was unanimous, there was a healthy amount of discussion about the projects potential impact on downtown business during the busy summer months. Council member Erin McCardle, while in favor of the project, would have preferred a late summer or early fall construction start. McCardle pointed out that construction will occur during the three largest months of the tax season. Changing the construction timeline would likely have required a complete re-bid of the project, which Council was not in favor of doing.
Chelan Interim Public Works Director Jake Youngren indicated that bridge work will likely begin sometime in July with the contractor having 105 working days to complete construction which will likely be sometime in November.
The bridge restoration will have an impact on busy summer traffic as the contractor will be allowed up to six different five-day closure periods and 12 single day closures of eight hours each. There will be no weekend construction work and pedestrian traffic will remain open at all times. With the change to a one-way access into town, the bridge will feature an eight-foot sidewalk on the lakeside, a 10- foot one-way traffic lane for vehicles and bicycles, a five- foot bike lane leaving town and a five- foot sidewalk on the river side. Pedestrian safety is a paramount piece of the project.
Bridge restoration, waterline installation, a one-way design for traffic flow into town and the Woodin Avenue Landing Park are the major components of the construction project. The Woodin Avenue Landing portion of the project has been a collaborative effort with the Historic Downtown Chelan Association which has raised $190,000 for the work. The Landing is located between the bridge and Campbell’s Resort and leads down to a public dock.
Mayor Mike Cooney tells LakeChelanNow that moving forward on the project will be a game changer for Chelan. He notes it has been a long time coming and that it has taken a lot of work to get to this point. He is gratified by the unanimous vote and is happy with the outcome.
Listen to the Interview with Mayor Cooney
Mayor Cooney plans a trip to Wenatchee soon to meet with contractor Brad Sellend to “let him know how important this project is to Chelan.” For those wondering about the look of the historic bridge, Youngren noted that even the iconic light fixtures will be replaced with exact replicas. As noted, the old concrete bridge was built in 1927 at the mouth of the Chelan River and at that replaced an older bridge that accommodated horse and foot traffic for nearly 50 years.
