The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Drivers traveling west from Cathlamet toward Skamokawa will notice Washington Department of Transportation employees working on the Elochoman River Bridge on SR4 beginning September 15.

On or about June 26, a hit and run occurred on the bridge doing a significant amount of damage, said Jerry Barsness, Region Wide Supervisor for WSDOT. “It got schmucked by a large unidentified load.” With labor and maintenance costs, taxpayers are looking at a bill of 60 to 70 thousand dollars and it keeps going up.

WSDOT workers anticipate work should be done in about a week, but could take as long as two, with 15-20 minute traffic delays.

“We are hoping for only one lane closures,” he said.

An osprey nest built on the west end of the structure will not need to be removed as first anticipated. The damage is on the east end of the bridge in the overhead steel members.

“Two steel members on the top of the structure were severed in the impact and require complete replacement,” Barsness said. This isn’t they type of material that can be purchased at the local big box hardware store.

The parts will need to be rebuilt. “We will remove the old and reinstall the new,” he said. A lot of the building work will be done at the WSDOT headquarters in Vancouver.

“This is the sort of thing that galls me,” Barsness said, referring to the damage. Whenever a party wishes to move an oversize load, they are supposed to obtain a permit.

“We are presuming whoever did this didn’t get that permit." he said. "It is a definite hit and run!”