Pedestrian walkway will close at Chittenden Locks two hours Sept. 2

Published Aug. 29, 2014

SEATTLE – Intermittent closures of the pedestrian walkway at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard will resume Sept. 2 along with work to replace the six spillway gates.

Two one-hour closures are scheduled Tuesday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials are working to minimize closure times and trying to avoid the busiest walkway commuter times. Locks vessel traffic is not affected.

Intermittent temporary pedestrian walkway closures will continue through the end of September 2014 for removal and replacement of the gates.  Closure times will be:

*         Posted on both sides of the bridge walkway

*         On the Chittenden Locks website calendar - http://bit.ly/BallardLocks

*         On the Chittenden Locks Facebook page - www.facebook.com/chittendenlocks

*         On the Chittenden Locks Twitter - http://twitter.com/ChittendenLocks

*         Available by calling the Chittenden Locks Visitor Center at 206-783-7059

Videos of the first gate removal are here: http://bit.ly/Locksgate1 and  http://bit.ly/Locksgates2

Called tainter gates, they maintain the water elevation for Lake Washington.  The gates were originally placed in service nearly 100 years ago in 1916.  In 1944, the gates were refurbished due to corrosion.  The last maintenance was done in 1988, when the gates were painted.  Because of the age of the materials, corrosion due to the environment in which they operate and an obsolete design which leaves them weaker and less resilient than modern gates, the Corps is replacing them with new gates.  

The Corps owns and operates the Chittenden Locks, the busiest locks in the nation, with 50,000 vessels locking through each year.
Contact
Bill Dowell
206-764-3464
william.r.dowell@usace.army.mil

Release no. 14-039