MUKILTEO, Wash. — This story was originally posted to MyNorthwest.com
Mukilteo’s Edgewater neighborhood has been cut in half for nearly 18 months as an 80-year-old bridge over a ravine has been demolished and rebuilt. The project wraps in two weeks, and neighbors are excited.
People living along Mukilteo Boulevard have been waiting for this project to come and go for a long time. The bridge, built in 1946, was supposed to be replaced years ago, but there were problems with the bidding process. Then came the pandemic.
The project didn’t begin until late 2024. It was supposed to take about a year.
Heavy rains, damaged equipment, and an old wooden bridge unearthed during excavation added several more months to the project, but on April 28, the Edgewater Bridge will reopen.
Sid and Judy have lived in this neighborhood for 44 years.
“It needed doing,” Sid told me. “It’s going to be better than it was. So, you know, we’re OK with it.”
Judy called it a “hassle.”
The bridge is less than 500 feet long, but it is a lifeline for the community. The closure has cut off the walking paths and access between Everett and Mukilteo. The detour from end to end is about 10 miles.
“We go often to Mukilteo, and it would be a five-minute drive to just about anywhere,” Sid said. “Now it’s like 20 minutes or so.”
But it hasn’t all been negative. Judy told me they have some new neighbors.
“We’ve had a lot of coyotes and deer in our yard that I think we’re displaced by what happened, and that’s been a lot of fun to watch,” she said. “There’s an upside to everything, right?”
Bridge officially opens in two weeks
There will be a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, April 27, at 3:30 p.m., and people will be invited to walk across the bridge. It will reopen to car traffic at the end of the workday on April 28.
Everett City Engineer Todd Hood told me earlier this year that he is incredibly thankful for the neighborhood’s patience.
“Our first message is empathy with the neighbors that are affected by this,” Hood said. “The closer the people live to the bridge, the more affected they are, obviously, with the detour route and things like that, and so that is never lost on us.”
The new bridge includes wider sidewalks and new bike lanes in each direction. Those sidewalks won’t be open until all the finishing touches are in place. That work includes final striping, barriers, and lighting.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.