SILVERDALE – The Bucklin Hill Bridge project is a little ahead of schedule and should be finished in July 2016.

“We’re hopefully going to be ahead of schedule,” said Tina Nelson, senior program manager with Kitsap County Public Works, during a Central Kitsap Community Council presentation Oct. 21.

Previously the county thought the bridge would be finished in August, 2016.

Nelson said revisions to the bridge design were one reason why the project is ahead.

Also, construction crews did not encounter underground obstructions while installing the bridge’s 16 support shafts, which are buried up to 60 feet deep, thus allowing for faster construction.

Nelson joked that she couldn’t be any more specific than July, 2016.

“July is a very good date … because there is 31 of those dates,” she said.

Nelson said she is often asked why it takes so long for the new bridge to be built. Her answer: the project is more than just a bridge.

The project also includes enhancement of an estuary, removal of culverts, adding a water main, replacing another water main, replacement of a storm sewer, moving a gas main, handling power and telecommunications lines, managing traffic and more. And keeping all those utilities functional during the whole process.

The bridge has 30 80-foot girders. Each one is 7 feet wide and 3 feet tall and they weigh 84,000 pounds. A concrete deck will go atop the girders.

Two 72-inch culverts were removed Oct. 11. The channel is now being formed to allow fish to make their way up the estuary.

In June, crews worked three days to remove old concrete rubble from the beach. Also, two sewage spills were a setback for the project.

“These sewer spills should not have happened,” Nelson said, adding that “There are things that happen on construction sites.” Construction workers are human, after all.

The two spills “did not have a major effect on the estuary,” Nelson said. The contractor is 100 percent liable for the spills, and Dyes Inlet’s tides flushed out the contaminated water quickly enough.

The water has been monitored for bacteria and no problems have been found. A smell at the beach is normal, a county representative said, and is due to natural anaerobic bacteria that live in the tidelands.

Learn more at www.bucklinhill.com.