Bridge gets famous, moves to West Side

A heavy, oversized section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge received a paradelike send-off Wednesday, complete with picture-snapping observers, waving transportation employees and cursing Spokane drivers caught behind the slow-moving procession.

By Wednesday night, the section of bridge had traveled about 65 miles, stopping just short of Ritzville.

There were times Wednesday when Interstate 90 traffic was backed up more than a mile behind the 15 mph caravan of semitrucks, Washington State Department of Transportation trucks and patrol cars.

“It’s been a tourist attraction for the last month here,” said Alton Beecher, a Riverside, Calif., resident, visiting his brother in Spokane Valley since January.

Beecher took pictures of the load as it passed under the Argonne Road overpass.

“It’s just a curious story,” said Beecher. “I’m wondering why it was OK to go through four states but as soon as it got to Washington, ‘No, no, no, no.’ ”

The 300,000-pound expansion joint had been stranded just inside the Idaho state line since March 17 when it was declared too heavy for the roadway with the trailer then transporting it. A new trailer, with a different wheel configuration, was deemed acceptable this week by the state.

The trailer and load combined weigh 429,000 pounds.

Jessica Hidy and Barbara Conger caught a peek at the procession from the Rustle Road Bridge over I-90 as the truck climbed up the Sunset Hill trailed by hundreds of cars. The two women, who work at the Kirkpatrick and Startzel law firm, were on a lunch break walk.

“This is very exciting,” said Conger. “We’re a little part of history.”

The truck driver will attempt to use the right lane and right shoulder during the journey in order to keep the left lane free for vehicles to pass the slow load. But there may be times when that won’t be possible, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Nicholas Hopper.

The piece is one of two that will absorb expansion and contraction in the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Think of the expansion joints acting like your ribs, moving in and out with each deep inhalation and exhalation as you try to maintain your cool in a traffic jam caused by a big bridge part.