Westbound commuters crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to Gig Harbor got their lanes back a week early.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) reopened the two right lanes of the 1950 bridge and the Jackson Avenue on-ramp to westbound State Route 16 at 11:40 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, according to a WSDOT news release. The closures had been scheduled to last through Nov. 8.

The early finish matters for anyone who drives the bridge. The repair had cut the four-lane westbound span in half, and afternoon backups stretched past the Pearl Street interchange, more than a mile from the bridge, The News Tribune reported when closures began.

What was fixed

Crews replaced a deteriorating section of an expansion joint on the 76-year-old bridge. The work began Oct. 24 and required around-the-clock lane closures.

Workers removed the old steel structure, installed a custom-fabricated replacement and poured concrete around it, WSDOT said.

MaryLou Shannon, WSDOT's Olympic Region Administrator, said the scope of such repairs is hard to predict in advance because problems "only reveal themselves when you get into the repair."

"Thanks to substantial initial preparation, planning and expert staff, we were able to complete the repair ahead of schedule," Shannon said.

Bridge engineers inspected the new partial joint before lanes reopened, WSDOT said. Crews will monitor the bridge in the coming weeks to confirm the joint is working properly.

More repairs ahead

The Oct. 30 fix is one in a long line. WSDOT's news release said the agency has made 11 emergency repairs to expansion joints on the westbound bridge since 2024.

As of September, eight of the first 10 emergency repairs had occurred at the large joints near the towers, according to the agency's blog post detailing the project. Three of the four large joints have approached the end of their usable life, the blog said.

WSDOT said additional repairs are expected next year. A separate project to replace the bridge's expansion joints is in design, with construction planned for 2027. The agency cautioned that more emergency lane closures could still occur before that work begins.

Just over $300 million is programmed through 2031 for preservation projects on the westbound bridge, WSDOT said. Beyond the joint replacement, that includes painting the deck truss and towers within the next five years.

What commuters should know

All four westbound lanes and the Jackson Avenue ramp are open. An average of 45,000 vehicles cross the bridge from Tacoma to Gig Harbor each day, based on 2024 data WSDOT cited to The News Tribune.

Tolls collected on the eastbound span do not fund maintenance on the westbound bridge, WSDOT noted.

Those tolls support operations, maintenance, preservation and insurance costs for the newer eastbound bridge, which opened in 2007. Tolling is required until debt service, deferred sales tax and state loans have been repaid.