Waitsburg's Main Street Bridge to Close July 5

WAITSBURG – Following nearly two years of planning and preparation, Waitsburg’s Main Street Bridge will finally close on July 5. Demolition and replacement will follow, with the expectation that a new bridge will be ready for use this fall, City Manager Randy Hinchliffe told city council members at their June 21 meeting.

Environmental regulations require that work in the river takes place during the low fish window which, unfortunately, coincides with harvest. Hinchliffe said that in-stream work can begin immediately, but that the contractor was waiting for water flows to drop to 100 cubic feet per second.

Demolition will follow, though Hinchliffe didn’t have an exact date for that. During a preconstruction meeting, the contractor, Harry Johnson Plumbing & Excavation, said they intended to use a combination of a wrecking ball and heavy equipment to demolish the bridge.

The contractor has been requested to salvage one light post and at least a portion of the window panels on the rail of the bridge for use in an interpretive display, as required by the state. The city will have two years to develop the display and must dedicate a page on the city website to the Main Street Bridge as well.

Farmers, property owners and emergency service personnel have been notified of the closure, with the suggestion that drivers expect delays and use Garden Street to access Millrace Road. Drivers should be cautious to watch for trucks entering the roadway, as The McGregor Company and the county shop are both located off Garden Street.

Hinchliffe said that, as far as he knows, Northwest Grain Growers intends to leave the Waitsburg Elevator open as usual.

In June 2015, the Washington State Legislature appropriated $1.7 million to replace the bridge, which has been categorized by the state as functionally obsolete. In addition to being narrow, the bridge’s arched bottom creates a flood hazard in the Touchet River.

Since then, the council and community have been busy jumping through many hoops and hurdles before building can take place. About a dozen permits were needed for the project, including both environmental and historic permits.

The city weathered community dissent over design issues, such whether the bridge would have one or two sidewalks, and rebounded after receiving construction bids that came in much higher than the estimated cost. An additional $100,000 nine-tenths sales tax grant from the Port of Walla Walla kept the project on schedule.

The contract was awarded to Harry Johnson Plumbing & Excavation in April of this year. Johnson’s schedule shows a completion date in October, though the city’s timeline calls for a November completion date.

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Times have certainly changed! While garnering tidbits for Pioneer Portraits, recently, we came across this bit of news referencing the planned construction of the original Main Street Bridge in the June 24, 1892 edition of The Times.

“At an adjourned meeting of the county commissioners last Saturday, the board decided to appropriate the sum of $1,500 towards constructing a bridge across the Touchet at the Main Street crossing in this city, provided the city construct a bridge to cost not less than $3,000.”