SUQUAMISH — Kitsap commuters’ Y2K moment was anticlimactic Feb. 9, with no reported problems as the Agate Pass Bridge was reduced to one lane for part of the day.

“Traffic was very manageable. [But] today is just one day out of 21 days,” said state Transportation Department spokeswoman Claudia Bingham Baker. “We would like to thank people for listening to our advice. Try to keep it up — reduce discretionary trips, schedule trips across the bridge before or after our work hours, and if possible take other ferries.”

Travel was reduced to single-lane, alternating traffic for the first of [20] days so crews can clean the bridge of accumulated debris and bird droppings. Through Feb. 28, traffic will be reduced to single lane from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Work stops 15 minutes before the hour so crews can have traffic control devices and other equipment out of the way and both lanes open by 3 p.m.

Baker said the Transportation Department timed the work before and after peak commute times. On any given day, the bridge accommodates a total of 22,000 vehicles a day. But during those work hours, it’s about 4,600 vehicles each direction, or 9,400 total, Baker said.

At 2:20 p.m., southbound traffic was backed up to Sandy Hook Lane. But that cleared when it was that lane’s turn to cross. A Washington State Patrol trooper stood in the intersection of Highway 305 and Suquamish Way, helping to keep traffic moving smoothly.

At 4 p.m., Baker didn’t have the day’s traffic count yet. “I think at worst we had a 15-minute delay going one direction, and a 5-minute going the other, at 10 a.m.,” she said.

Baker recommended commuters download the traffic app from the Department of Transportation’s website.

The more-than-1,000-foot bridge was built in 1950 and was last thoroughly cleaned in 1991. While the bridge is cleaned, workers are checking the bridge’s structural integrity and installing new bridge rail. The project is expected to cost an estimated $200,000.

At a meeting of Transportation representatives and local public leaders on Jan. 20, at least two mayors expressed concern about possible impacts to their communities, and Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson advocated doing the work from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Transportation Department representatives said doing the work in the dark would double the cost.

In addition, the work is being done in February because peregrine falcons that live on the bridge will not be there.