Work will resume soon at the Highway 410 overpass widening in Bonney Lake, where falling concrete debris killed a young family earlier this month.
All day Thursday, and maybe into Friday morning, construction crews will remove pieces of concrete barrier that are currently piled along both sides of Angeline Road East, below the east-west overpass. Josh Ellis, age 25, his wife Vanessa Ellis, 29, and their 8-month-old son, Hudson, died April 13 when their pickup crossed beneath the Highway 410 overpass, at the moment a long barrier segment fell.
At the time, a crew was making cuts in preparation to remove the barrier, which partly extends beyond the edge of the deck. Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson has said the contractor team failed to follow its own demolition plan, which called for barrier to be methodically removed in 8- to 10-foot pieces, using a scoop and grasping arm. The work plan also calls for flaggers to close a lane of Angeline Road when concrete was being extracted directly overhead, city officials say.
Angeline Road will be closed during Thursday’s operation, said City Clerk Woody Edvalson. And possibly, the bridge demolition will resume next week, he said. There’s no longer any barrier over Angeline Road, but traffic there would likely be closed anyway, so that workers and machinery can maneuver more easily, Edvalson said.
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Bonney Lake, a suburb of 18,520 people in eastern Pierce County, is widening the westbound side of the overpass for $1.7 million, so a 6-foot-wide shoulder can be added for bicyclist and pedestrian safety.