Ward bridge scour protection project
Spirit Vision Films will once again be working with the Clallam County Road Department to document a bridge restoration project in the Sequim Dungeness Valley.
Beginning in late June, the Ward Bridge (named for its proximity to the Ward road) on Woodcock road where it transverses the Dungeness River, will be closed for repairs to its concrete footings.
Bruch and Bruch Construction will undertake the highly elaborate and delicate repair of the concrete footings in the river. After decades of high-flow winter flooding along the Dungeness, the footings have sustained damage that will be addressed in this repair. Along with the in-water work, the bridge deck will be ground and resurfaced with a hot asphalt mix.
Because of the work done in the river itself, the contractor will have to divert the river and de-water the areas around the three footings that support the bridge.
It has taken nearly three years to acquire the necessary permitting and the in-water work has to be done in a very narrow ‘fish window,’ starting July 15th and ending August 15th.
The late June closure gives the contractor time to build access roads to the river’s edge (but not in the river), so that when the fish window is open they can place ‘super sacks’ in the river to divert the water around the work areas and move the salmon smolts within the work area into the diverted channel that will also allow returning salmon to pass safely through the work area.
The road closure will occur at the intersection of Town and Woodcock roads and at the Ward and Woodcock roads intersection. The project is slated to be completed by September 1st.
Spirit Vision Films will be using time-lapse, ground and aerial videography, as well as still imagery to document this project from closure of the road thru the repair, and eventual re-opening of the bridge. This long-term project will be exciting and we are looking forward to the challenge of capturing the essence of how intricate and detailed projects like this can be.
Stay tuned!
