³ÉÈËXÕ¾

If you drove to Eastern Washington at any time last fall, it’s likely that you crossed the Columbia River at the Vantage Bridge, especially for concert seekers en route to the Gorge. It’s also likely that you sat in mile-long backups approaching the 62-year-old bridge due to a major rehabilitation project.

After a long winter break this week, the (WSDOT) is resuming work and that means single-lane closures in both directions of Interstate 90 (I-90) spanning the bridge through the fall.

Before we get to this year’s agenda, let’s first recap what WSDOT accomplished in its first year with spokesperson Summer Derrey:

“The I-90 Vantage Bridge is in desperate need of replacement,” she said. “It’s rather old. There’s no real easy way to fix the bridge other than just to replace it panel by panel at the cost of pretty severe traffic impacts. Last year, we had to reduce traffic to a single lane in each direction and replace the corner panels, panel by panel, to get the work done.”

There were sixty panels to be exact, plus WSDOT completed 80% of repairs to the bridge piers last year.

More from MyNorthwest: Are hiking, camping and fishing trips about to get more expensive in Washington?

Impact of Vantage Bridge work on summer travelers

So, what will drivers see this year?

“To the best of my knowledge, we’re just replacing the bridge deck itself, so it just involves removing or replacing broken concrete panels,” Derrey said. “We’re starting work early this year, so we can get a lot more accomplished. The bad news is it does come at the impact of the travelers. Last year, we just started in the fall, and we experienced backups then. So, for that reason, drivers certainly need to plan ahead.”

Derrey offered some advice to avoid the big backups.

“You can go up north toward Wenatchee, kind of loop around, or you can go all the way down south to the Tri-Cities and sort of shoot that way to get to your destination,” she said. “It doesn’t add a significant amount to your time, and the benefit is that at least you’re in motion and not stuck at the bridge.”

In order to safely perform this panel work, the bridge will be down to a single lane in both directions, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with speed reductions. But, there is a nice break, as Derrey explained.

“We are taking a break for the month of June,” she said. “So between Memorial Day and the 4th of July, for the most part, we’ll be off the highway with occasional single-lane closures. We know that the heaviest traffic is in June, so for that reason, our contractor is going to be working on other activities related to the bridge at that time with all lanes open so that travelers can certainly get to their destinations a little bit smoother.”

Last year, drivers were sitting in 6-mile backups that took 5 hours to get through. Planning your trip well in advance is strongly urged and consider driving during non-peak hours.

“We have two seasons in Washington,” Derrey said. “We have winter and we have construction. For those reasons, we need drivers to always be on point. Always be aware of the surroundings and be careful.”

And as always, drive slowly through construction zones.

More from MyNorthwest: ‘Hey, you know any missing Liberty Bells?’ Meet the man who helped track down stolen Liberty Bell replica

Nate Connors is a traffic reporter for ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio. Follow him on . Submit news tips here.