Week of January 26, 2026
This photo was taken before work began on January 22, 2026.
Monday, January 26
Kitsap County workers removed the log and concrete barrier on the north side of Olympiad Drive.
Wednesday, January 28
Manchester Water District improved the placement of a fire hydrant, and by Friday they had capped the water line to end on Olympiad where the bridge begins.
Survey crews also placed markers on either side of the current causeway. Waders were required for this job!
By Friday afternoon, utility workers were done. Conduit was run underground (in the photo below, from the near safety cone to the power pole just past the stop sign) to house cable lines where Olympiad meets Southworth Drive.
Week of February 2, 2026
The road was officially closed and a grinding machine began to chew up the asphalt, mixing it with the dirt below to form the road bed. The entrance to Inlet Lane was also pulverized and re-graded. It was surprising how quickly this machine did the work!
Then the road bed was pressed down by a “steam”roller so vehicles can drive on it.
On Wednesday, an excavator removed brush from the south side of the causeway. Erosion control fencing was added.
Components of the crane arrived including the “jib.” This is a length of metal lattice that extends the reach of the crane.
On Thursday, the parts were put together and the crane was up!
Utility work continued. Power and cable will eventually be laid along the bridge. To prepare for this and keep our internet going, Astound laid conduit on the beach on the north side of the causeway. This will later be moved onto the bridge. They dug a trench across Olympiad to take the temporary conduit to the power pole on the south side of the street where it will once again be suspended along with the power lines.
The new fire hydrant!
The photos on the right show the orange conduit for the cable. It is tied to pieces of re-bar hammered into the beach. Let's hope it stays put! At high tide, some of the conduit can be seen floating.
Steel plates have been positioned. They protect the current culvert from being crushed as heavy equipment moves over it. The long U-shaped steel pieces will form a coffer dam to keep water out as a bridge abutment is built.
A camera was placed on a nearby power pole to take photos every 15 minutes that will show a time-lapse of the construction. A new sign appeared prohibiting pedestrians and bicycles beyond the Road Closed sign. I guess we take a risk if we want to wander through the site on the weekends!
Week of February 9, 2026
Did YOU hear the noise last night? Until 10pm? Are your windows and dishes rattling? Ours are.
Let's hope it's worth all the chaos in the end!
On Monday, an arborist trimmed and topped two fir trees near where the east bridge abutment will be, making way for the slight road change. Later in the day during low tide, about a dozen steel sheet pilings were vibrated into the estuary using the crane.
Drone photo courtesy of Rick S.
Monday and Tuesday, excavators dug up the Manchester Water pipe laid beneath the causeway. It was wrapped in asbestos way back when, so sections were packaged up and taken away by a mitigation company today.
The large green box powers the smaller green component which dangles from the crane. It. Makes. So. Much. Noise.
The road approach to the east side of the bridge is being prepared. Thursday a crew removed some rockery, then pushed over the two trees that were limbed earlier this week. It is hoped these trees will go into the estuary to form fish habitat. The slope was graded and more erosion fencing installed on the property nearest to the bridge.
Vegetation has been cleared and erosion fencing installed.
Drone photo courtesy of Rick S.
Steel pilings for the coffer dams have been vibrated into two L-shapes, one on each end of the bridge. It could take a few more nights of installing these pieces on the other side of the causeway.
Ditches are being upgraded from Inlet down toward the bridge.
Week of February 16, 2026
Work continues to install steel pilings for the coffer dam. Thank goodness the pilings have not been installed at night.
A question we asked our Kitsap County contact person was, "How do they remove the pilings after construction is done?"
The answer: same way they went in!
Did you know that the crane is 130 feet tall?!
Century Link/Lumen removed their lines from the poles on the north side of the causeway.
The coffer dams are finished, so the large green box and vibrating attachment were taken away.
Rebar was delivered, and crews are now working on forming skeletal cylinders made of circles and lengths of re-bar.
Week of February 23, 2026
Work continues on building the rebar cages. The crane is used to lift the circular pieces. The job of adjusting these along the length looks very physical. I bet these workers sleep well at night!
Kitsap County hosted a meeting on the evening of Tuesday, February 24 to discuss the project with residents. They gave an overview of the project (which by the county representative's own admission, some in the audience could have given!). There was a reminder that Harper Park is still open and half of the parking lot should be available to visitors. Commissioner Oran Root is hopeful that the project will be completed earlier than the expected date and under budget. Of course there was a chuckle about government projects not always living up to our hopes!
During the question and answer period, several topics came up.
- Will the noise be as loud going forward? Possibly, but no more nighttime work is scheduled.
- What can be done to slow traffic along Southworth Drive? Some residents gave suggestions. Moving the digital speed readout farther south to alert drivers sooner was one.
- Are there plans to re-pave Olympiad Drive? Currently this is out of the scope of the bridge project, but the county agrees the road does need work!
- Once the bridge is completed, how can pedestrians be kept safe crossing from the parking lot to the bridge? The pros and cons of a crosswalk were explored. Apparently, studies show that a crosswalk could give pedestrians a false sense of security. And, as we know, along that stretch of Southworth Drive, a lot of drivers are not thinking about pedestrians! However, the county reps promised to explore these requests.
- How will parking along the bridge be discouraged? The county did not have answers, but residents offered ideas such as signs and a curb to separate traffic from the shoulder.
- What are the next steps in the process? According to Matt Scarsella, drilling for the bridge piers (7 feet in diameter and 80 feet deep!!!) and pouring the cement is next. Construction of the bridge abutment follows. The stream channel will be amended and then the span goes across--a big event!
IT IS REQUESTED THAT PEDESTRIANS NOT WALK IN THE CONSTRUCTION ZONE, EVEN ON THE WEEKENDS. (Hmmm. Guess our pictures will have to be from afar!)
Our concerns about roads and safety are being received, but it never hurts to remind the county about our needs in the area. Squeaky wheels get grease!
Work this week: the fourth rebar cage--out of 4--is under construction and other preparations are underway for the drilling crew's arrival on March 9. There are lots of dirt and gravel deliveries, spreading, packing down, grading and rolling continue. Beep, beep, beep!
