You spoke, Mount Vernon, and we listened. We then worked with our contractor and Mount Vernon officials to find a solution that will allow us to accelerate the remaining work on a project to repaint and preserve the historic State Route 536 Skagit River/Division Street Bridge and fully reopen to eastbound and westbound traffic several months early.
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| The SR 536 Skagit River/Division Street Bridge in Mount Vernon was last painted in 1990. A WSDOT project is now performing important preservation work on the bridge to extend its service life. |
Finishing work sooner means we need to close the bridge in both directions to non-emergency vehicle traffic beginning Sunday, Nov. 1. This closure will last about two weeks, assuming the weather cooperates, but the full closure gives us an opportunity to fully open the bridge for the holiday season.
The bridge, which was built in 1953, was last painted in 1990, meaning it desperately needed this important preservation work to extend its service life. Our original plan closed the bridge to eastbound traffic on June 11. Though the bridge remained open to westbound vehicles, the eastbound closure was expected to last until work finished in early 2027.
Our contractor has made steady progress, but we’ve also heard strong interest in getting this work finished sooner and reducing the amount of time construction affects people and businesses on both sides of the bridge.
Anytime we disrupt the normal flow of traffic, especially when that disruption is months long as needed for construction, we know that people must rearrange their lives to accommodate. Commutes take longer, trips to town may be more difficult, errands, appointments and recreation all require more planning and often, more time.
When given the opportunity to reduce the overall duration of those impacts, we took another look. We can’t always change how a project is sequenced or how traffic control must operate, but in this case, we identified an opportunity to accelerate the remaining construction schedule and reopen the bridge sooner than originally expected.
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| A containment system has covered different sections of the SR 536 Skagit River Bridge during construction, protecting the river below from debris and paint. |
Here is everything you need to know about what will happen:
What is the plan?
Beginning Sunday, Nov. 1, we will close the SR 536 Skagit River Bridge to both directions of non-emergency vehicle traffic. Passenger and freight vehicles must detour using I-5 and SR 20. This will allow us to accelerate construction and finish work faster. The good news is when we finish, we’ll be able to reopen the bridge to BOTH directions of traffic.
How long with the full closure last?
We expect the full closure will take about two weeks, provided the weather cooperates. Wet, windy and cold weather could extend how long the bridge is closed. If the weather stays dry and warm enough and strong winds hold off, we should be able to complete this important preservation project and open the bridge to all vehicles for the holiday season.
What about emergency services?
Emergency responders will still be able to use the bridge in both directions, just like they can now. They use a system already in emergency vehicles to trigger the temporary traffic signals at either end of the bridge. These signals are ONLY for emergency vehicles and will not change for passenger or freight vehicles, which must detour using I-5 and SR 20.
What about people walking or biking?
Access across the river will be maintained for pedestrians, bicyclists and people using mobility devices in both directions throughout the full closure, just as it is now. When we must close the bridge sidewalk, an Americans with Disability Act-compliant shuttle will be available in both directions.
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| Most of the painting work has been completed on the smaller, eastern span of the SR 536 Skagit River Bridge. Crews are actively working on the smaller, western span. |
How does a full closure help speed up work?
Without a need to maintain a lane for traffic, crews have access to the full structure using the entire driving surface. This will allow them to complete the remaining tasks quicker and reopen the bridge sooner.
What work needs to be done?
Work is nearly complete on the larger, eastern span of the bridge. Crews also began blasting away old paint and years of rust and debris from the smaller western span and inspecting each steel piece so we could repair or replace pieces that have corrosion. We’ve also begun adding new layers of paint to the west span that will protect and preserve the structure for years to come
By the time the full closure begins Nov. 1, we expect to have most of the painting work done, provided the weather continues to be favorable throughout October. That leaves repairs to the driving surface, sealing joints, installing pavement markings and derigging the containment system. We also need to touch up paint where repairs are still being made or the containment system rigging prevented us from painting the bridge structure.
When will work be finished and the bridge reopen?
We expect the remaining work will take about two weeks to complete after we begin the full closure. Our goal is to reopen SR 536 for the holiday season. But that is a goal, not a guarantee. The one thing we cannot control is the weather. Cold, wet or windy weather will hamper our ability to meet that goal and could extend the length of the closure.
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| Crews are working to complete painting of the eastern span of the SR 536 Skagit River Bridge, but still have plenty of tasks to complete. These include driving surface repairs, derigging the containment system and touching up paint. They’ll focus on this work during the full closure. |
What if the weather doesn’t cooperate?
The full closure will be extended. Unfortunately, we cannot switch back and allow one direction of traffic once we have fully closed the bridge to both directions of traffic.
If this speeds things up why not start earlier?
We still have work to complete before we get to the full closure. While a full closure will speed up repairs to the driving surface and derigging, the sand blasting and most of the painting can be done just about as fast while still allowing westbound traffic over the bridge. Fully closing it now would not speed up the process.
Will the bridge open to eastbound traffic before the full closure?
The bridge needs to remain reduced to one lane to make room for crews, machinery and the containment system while we sand blast and paint the western span. For that reason, the bridge will remain closed to eastbound traffic until we finish construction and the bridge fully reopens.
Why hasn’t traffic been alternating since the beginning?
During the design phase of this project, we looked at alternating eastbound and westbound SR 536 traffic. As part of this evaluation, we did a queue analysis, which showed backups could potentially reach a half mile through downtown Mount Vernon if we alternated traffic and be even longer depending on how many travelers voluntarily used a longer detour.
After consulting with officials from Mount Vernon, Skagit Transit, Mount Vernon School District and local emergency service providers, we determined those types of backups would significantly affect emergency response times to and from West Mount Vernon. To maintain current emergency service response times, we determined it was best to keep the bridge westbound only.
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| If the weather cooperates allowing work to finish, the SR 536 Skagit River Bridge could reopen to both directions of traffic in time for the holiday season. |
If the full closure is speeding things up, why wasn’t a full closure used in the first place?
Even with a full closure from the beginning of the project, it would have taken much longer than two weeks to complete construction. After consulting with our partners, it was determined the length of that full closure would be too long, and we proceed with the plan to limit traffic to one direction for the duration of the project.
As work progressed, we heard the challenges people living and working on both sides of the river were having with the bridge reduced to a single lane. We revisited the idea of a full bridge closure to expedite work. Beginning Nov. 1 we are at a unique place in the sequencing of work where a shorter full closure will allow us to finish necessary work so we can fully reopen the bridge in about two weeks, pending cooperation from the weather.
Where can I get updates?
This blog will be your best source. We’ll provide regular, short updates about how work is progressing right here. We’ll also provide progress updates on our regional X and Bluesky accounts and in our weekly Mount Baker Area Newsletter.
