That’s an SDOT photo from work done these past three days to reinstall a refurbished cylinder removed from the low bridge last fall. This is part of an ongoing process, SDOT reminds us:

Last October, we reinstalled the refurbished cylinder from the east pier that was damaged when the piston head became stuck in January 2023. When the unexpected damage occurred, preparations to overhaul all four of the bridge’s hydraulic turning cylinders were already underway as part of our comprehensive repair and maintenance efforts. This allowed for repairs to be completed sooner than if we had started from scratch. Our bridge maintenance crews, and our design and repair experts redeveloped a part of the turn cylinder so that this type of malfunction is much less likely to occur in the future.

Between March 1-3 [this past Friday-Sunday], crews successfully reinstalled the refurbished cylinder that was removed during the October 2023 low bridge closure! We will continue to rehabilitate the remaining two turn cylinders in the west bridge pier this year.

That’s not the only low-bridge work that’s yet to come. Next month, SDOT says, “crews will reroute the control tower wires from the high bridge to a new conduit beneath the West Duwamish Waterway that connects to the motors that open and close the bridge. … The original system, composed of buttons, switches, and wires, is about 30 years old. To remedy this, we will be rerouting the wires connecting the control tower with the motors that open and close the bridge off the high bridge to a new conduit under the West Duwamish Waterway. This work will increase the resiliency of the West Seattle Bridge system and help decouple the low bridge from the high bridge.” More details on this work and how it will affect bridge users are promised soon.