The Puyallup River Bridge in Tacoma will be shut down beginning Monday morning for nine months of much-needed repairs.
The bridge is an important relief valve when traffic backs up on Interstate 5 during rush hour.
According to the City of Tacoma, the bridge is nearly 100 years old and is structurally in bad shape. The city received $42 million to fix three out of seven segments, but they'll need more money to fix the rest.
Business owners nearby, including Destination Harley Davidson owner Ed Wallace, said he’s talking to his customers about taking alternate routes
"We're lucky because we do pretty well at it, but it just seemed like another curve ball for us," said Wallace. "Hopefully I can get my customers trained that there are a lot of ways in and out."
The store has been in his family since the early 1990s with loyal customers, including a man named Wolf, whom, for the last 18 years has come to hang out on a bench outside of the store just about every day.
“You see how the traffic is? It’s like this every evening. When I came here in 1989, wasn’t no traffic, but now we’re having problems,” said Wolf.
He’s referring to the traffic over the Puyallup Bridge.
"Matter fact, they stop the buses from going across there.”
He’s right, according to City of Tacoma engineer Dan Soderlind. The bridge only holds 10 tons and won’t hold trucks.
"I'm kind of glad they’re doing it cause it's dangerous, you know,” said Wolf
The bridge closure will likely result in traffic backups.
The city says the best detour will be the Lincoln Street bridge.
