Drove up Admiral Way hill north of the bridge a little while ago to confirm that the repaving work has begun – it has. (Here are the details from SDOT; it’s scheduled to continue through Friday.

Meanwhile, turns out SDOT didn’t inspect the Fauntleroy Expressway section of the bridge as expected yesterday – so the work is rescheduled for the next two days:

The Seattle Department of Transportation previously announced that they would be inspecting the Fauntleroy Expressway bridge deck (the raised roadway at the west end of the West Seattle Bridge) on April 30th. Due to unexpected mechanical issues, the work has now been rescheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, May 2nd & 3rd between 8 am and 3 pm.

The inspection team will establish short-term lane closures of the right-hand lane, beginning on the westbound side, using truck-mounted traffic warning devices. The inspection team will make short-term (15 minutes) stops at any given location along the bridge deck. After completing the westbound route the team will then inspect eastbound, toward Downtown Seattle, also along the right-hand lane. The entire inspection will be completed by 3 p.m. on the given day. (When working during the morning commute period, activities will take place in the lanes of travel that are in the opposite direction of peak traffic flows.)

These closures are required as part of the seismic retrofit of the Fauntleroy Expressway, to make it more likely to withstand the force of a major earthquake. The work is funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation levy approved by Seattle voters in November 2006.