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Your green light to talk traffic
Awkward openings? Posted by Charles E. Brown at 10:16 AM Q: On a Saturday afternoon not too long ago, Mike Nesteroff of Bellevue came upon Highway 520's Evergreen Point Bridge being opened for boat traffic. That was about 1:30 p.m. The Sunday before that, he came upon the bridge being opened about 3 p.m. "I don't recall the bridge opening, except at very off-hours like late at night or very early in the morning on weekends," he said. The Saturday opening was particularly untimely, he said, because it takes about a half-hour to open and close the bridge, and that particular opening was at the height of traffic on a UW Huskies game day, "backing up cars all the way to Interstate 405 westbound and onto Interstate 5 eastbound, all for a single sailboat to go through. "What's the deal?" he asked. A: In general, federal law gives marine traffic the right-of-way over vehicular traffic. However, the Coast Guard can grant exceptions for bridge closures during rush-hour periods, so the Highway 520 bridge is not usually opened for marine traffic between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. weekdays, said state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Meghan Soptich. Even so, the bridge can be closed to vehicle traffic for a drawspan opening at any time on weekends or federal holidays. Boaters must schedule openings at least two hours in advance. "We do our best to notify drivers about drawspan openings by posting warnings on our electronic message signs on Highway 520, I-5, I-405 and I-90 at least a half-hour before a scheduled opening so drivers can choose alternate routes to get to their destinations," Soptich said. But even if it is just one sailboat, if the boat's mast is too tall for the drawspan, the bridge can be opened, regardless of the amount of traffic on the bridge. You can read more about when and why the state closes the Evergreen Point Bridge to vehicle traffic on the DOT's Web site: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/bridges/sr520/whyclose.htm. (P.S.: The above item, posted in The Bumper Connection on Dec. 4, (and in Bumper to-Bumper in print and online on Dec. 10), attempted to explain the why and when Highway 520's Evergreen Point Floating Bridge is opened for marine traffic, disrupting traffic on the bridge. It happens from time to time. But not the way the item explained it. If the bridge were an elevated bridge, like, say the Montlake or University bridges along the Ship Canal, bridge spans would need to be raised when a boat mast is too tall to pass under the closed drawspan. But not so for the Evergreen Point bridge. That bridge's drawspan, in the middle of the bridge, slides open horizontally for boat masts too tall to clear the elevated ends of the bridge. Otherwise, if a boat mast was too tall to pass under the bridge's floating drawspan, that boat would have to be under water. Yes, that floating bridge's drawspans slide to the side. Either way, though. bridge openings still disrupt bridge traffic. ) 
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