UPDATE: Work wrapped up early Saturday, so the bridge will be open Sunday. Yay!
Well, this isn’t the most welcome news, especially since Sunday could crack 60 degrees, but the University Bridge will be closed from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to make repairs. Yes, this includes people on foot and bike.
If you are on north side of the Ship Canal, it’s not too difficult to detour down the Burke-Gilman Trail to either the Montlake or Fremont Bridges. However, if you are heading north across the canal, it would be wise to plan an alternate route ahead of time because there really is no great way to get from the south end of the U Bridge to the other bridges. Boyer, the only non-hilly route to the Montlake Bridge, only has sharrows and can be unpleasant on a typical day, let alone a day where it is used as the official motor vehicle detour.
And despite my dreams, WSDOT is not creating a temporary biking and walking trail across the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge.
If you are looking for a super pleasant, though slightly longer, detour route, below is one of my favorite bike routes in the whole city (well, except for the section directly south of the U Bridge, where there are no good options):
View U Bridge to Montlake Detour in a larger map
Do you have any suggestions?
Comments
4 responses to “University Bridge will be CLOSED Saturday – UPDATE: Now open”
What type of elevation changes does your route go through?
Also, while bridge will be close in one sense, it will be technically be open (which is why even foot/bike traffic is being detoured): “Bridge will be in the open position for work to repair damaged pier protection. Crews will also repave the southbound University Bridge on-ramp from NE Campus Parkway during this closure.”
The climb from the U Bridge to Roanoke Park is not insignificant. But I think it’s worth it for the truly awesome and not-very-hilly trip through Interlaken Park.
I really wonder in this case if a path attached to the I-5 bridge across the ship canal wouldn’t be such a bad idea. For those on top of Capitol Hill and equal counterparts at 45th in the U-District it would work quite well.
The Alex Fraser Bridge in Surrey has a path attached to it, so it is doable.
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