WSDOT opens new State Route 167 Puyallup River Bridge

Travelers on northbound State Route 167 in Puyallup are now driving across a wider Puyallup River Bridge.

The new span replaces a structurally-deficient, steel-truss bridge built in 1925. According to Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials, truckers will be pleased to know overwidth and overheight restrictions in the northbound direction have been removed with the opening of the new bridge. Pedestrians will also enjoy a roomier, eight-foot-wide sidewalk. The new bridge is designed with the capacity to add new lanes in the future if funding becomes available.

“We’re very happy to deliver this new, improved bridge to the community,” said WSDOT Administrator Kevin Dayton. The $31.2 million project began in summer 2014.

In the next few months, WSDOT will move the 90-year-old steel-truss bridge onto WSDOT property adjacent to the highway. It will stay there up to four years while WSDOT works to find a new home for the historically-significant bridge, potentially as a structure along the Foothills Trail in Pierce or King County. If unsuccessful, WSDOT will recycle the steel. In addition to bridge relocation, crews also will demolish temporary roadways leading to the old bridge, install landscaping and complete electrical work.

More information is available online here.

The existing northbound bridge, built in 1925, was replaced because it reached the end of its useful life, according to WSDOT officials. (PHOTO COURTESY WSDOT)

A project map for the State Route 167 Puyallup River Bridge replacement project. (IMAGE COURTESY WSDOT)

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of the new northbound State Route 167 Puyallup River Bridge, click on the following articles:

WSDOT plans milestone Puyallup River Bridge relocation (Tacoma Daily Index, July 1, 2014)
WSDOT: Puyallup River Bridge inspections continue (Tacoma Daily Index, Oct. 25, 2013)
WSDOT: Puyallup River Bridge inspections resume this weekend (Tacoma Daily Index, Oct. 15, 2013)
WSDOT: Puyallup River Bridge inspections ahead (Tacoma Daily Index, Oct. 9, 2013)

To build the new State Route 167 Puyallup River Bridge at Meridian Avenue, workers needed a series of very large girders. The 90- to 150-foot-long girders were manufactured in Southwest Washington and hauled by semi-truck to the location of the new bridge. (PHOTO COURTESY WSDOT)