by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 9 February 2016
This year, Fremonsters will see more activity on the George Washington Memorial Bridge (more commonly known as the Aurora Bridge) than usual. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has ownership of the structure, built in 1931 (and dedicated the next year, on Washington’s Birthday.) And WSDOT will be having a full-scale painting and preservation done of the original pedestrian rail, plus stringers and floor beams beneath the road deck.
“I don’t think it is going to look significantly different,” said Kris Olsen, Project Communications for WSDOT, of the end result, although removal of years of corrosion and rust on the railing will make significant structural differences. The Aurora Bridge Preservation Project could take a full year, and will include stripping 85-years of paint off the metal surfaces, sandblasting away the rust and corrosion caused by entirely unsheltered exposure to all-kinds of weather, and replacing the cast iron, historic pieces of the railing too damaged or destroyed for painting.
According to WSDOT records, this will be the sixth painting of the Aurora Bridge, an official Seattle Landmark, listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, but “they probably didn’t strip it down to the bare metal,” observed Dave Lindberg, Aurora Preservation Project Manager for WSDOT. For the first time, the cleaning and painting crews will be restoring and priming the bare steel of the bridge.
The Process Of Preservation
Removing the build-up of paint (from previous paintings in 1985, 1974, 1962, 1952, plus the original painting in 1931,) and the rust caused by corrosive marine air, requires substantial sandblasting and scraping. To keep the paint, sand and other debris from raining into the surrounding environment, the contractor – Hercules Painting Company – has begun setting up an elaborate protective containment wrap around the section of the structure being cleaned. Similar to the wrap used by the City of Seattle contractor, in 2014/15, when they cleaned and painted the Fremont Bridge structure, this huge plastic containment wrapper for the Aurora Bridge will be moved steadily along the structure, from section to section.
According to WSDOT, the first section of the Bridge within the containment wrap will be the south end. The wrap will move after the handrail, stringers and floor beams are sandblasted, primed, examined for damage, and repair/replacement done to any parts and pieces that may need more attention.
After all that, the painting – which will be a light grey color very similar to the color used in recent decades – requires four coats. “We try to repaint bridges every 20 years,” reported Olsen, “The paint we are using is meant to last 20 – 25 years.”
All this work is expected to be done, almost entirely, during daylight hours. It may require some lane closures, but the contractor (and WSDOT) is doing their best to avoid closing any more than a single lane – to maintain access along the heavily used roadway. Some work, particularly that over Fremont, may require road closures and/or traffic re-routing beneath the structure when repair and painting move to the north end of the Bridge.
The most major closure may be the complete removal of pedestrian and bicycle access along the northbound sidewalk, which will be used to anchor the containment wrap. The sidewalk closed at the beginning of February, and will continue throughout the project – potentially into the fall. At both ends of the 2,900 foot-long structure, pedestrian underpasses allow safe crossing to and from the southbound sidewalk. Those physically unable to use the stairs of the pedestrian underpass can call an access hotline for shuttle service transport, with the contact number and an emergency phone placed at both ends of the bridge for this purpose.
Follow Along On The Aurora Preservation
The Aurora Bridge Preservation Project will cost $23.1 million dollars, including the design, construction and taxes, as it provides significant improvement to this highly-visible and vital structure.
As for the trusses and nodes underneath the Aurora Bridge, painting currently is proposed to start in 2018. The safety fence – the vertical cables that extend above the historic pedestrian railing – do not require painting or maintenance. This will be the first time for painting the historic pedestrian rail with this new impediment, but as Lindberg said, “nobody said it was going to be easy.”
Find out more details, and updates, about the Aurora Bridge Preservation Project, through the WSDOT website. Provided everything goes well, and the weather cooperates, painting could be done on the Aurora Bridge by early fall of 2016. Keep up-to-date on if this is the case by checking in with WSDOT through the website.
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©2016 Kirby Laney. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.