ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Highway 101 bridge over the Elwha River could need replacement or retrofitting now that two dams have been removed, allowing the now-wild river to erode the riverbed under the bridge, officials said.
When state Department of Transportation crews drilled bore samples earlier this month, they learned that the bridge’s two piers sit atop gravel — not bedrock, as they had hoped, the Peninsula Daily News reported.
“We’re keeping a very close eye on it and we have electronic monitoring on it,” said department spokeswoman Claudia Bingham Baker. “It is safe as long as it is open to the public.”
The bridge was built in 1926, after the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams were constructed.
With the dams removed as part of a $325 million National Park Service project to restore the Elwha River to its wild state, the state has placed boulders at the base of the piers to stem erosion. But that’s just a short term fix.