Tough holiday weekend for Bainbridge travelers

Published 10:46 am Friday, July 8, 2016

From the start of the Fourth of July weekend to its ultimate end, visitors and islanders alike navigated a mess of traffic troubles on Bainbridge, from delayed ferries to an overstuffed Highway 305.

The headaches ran from the familiar (clogged streets from the annual Rotary auction and garage sale, and street shutdowns on July 3-4 in Winslow) to the unexpected (the temporary loss of ferry MV Wenatchee after it hit the dock in Seattle and cut the Bainbridge run down to one-boat service on Independence Day).

The worst for many came Saturday, July 2.

A four-car collision on the Agate Pass Bridge, midway across the span above the pass, sent two people to the hospital after a 26-year-old Kingston man in a 2010 Ford F150 heading north failed to slow for traffic and hit a 2013 Ford Escape in front of him.

The Ford then lurched into a 2010 Toyota Sienna, which was pushed into a 2006 Honda.

The driver of the Ford Escape, a 46-year-old Seattle woman, was taken to the hospital for possible head, neck and leg injuries, while one of her three passengers, a 5-month-old baby girl, was also transported for a medical evaluation.

The others in the Ford, a 7-year-old girl and a 45-year-old woman, all from Seattle, were not injured.

The driver of the truck had a minor cut on his hand, while the other drivers (a 50-year-old Seattle man and a 70-year-old Seattle woman) were not hurt.

The crash left both lanes of Highway 305 blocked as emergency responders from Bainbridge Island, Suquamish and North Kitsap responded to the scene.

Though the Ford pickup and the Ford Escape both needed to be towed from the bridge, and the highway was reopened within an hour after the 10:40 a.m. crash, the damage was done. Travelers northbound on Highway 305 faced stop-and-go traffic that proceeded at a snail’s pace well into the evening.

The patience of Bainbridge motorists was again tested over the next two days during the expected closures of streets in the downtown area for the annual street dance and the Fourth of July celebration on Sunday and Monday.

There were multiple reports of flared tempers as drivers hit roadblocks around the downtown core Monday, but the largest hurdle for those headed to Bainbridge’s biggest party of the year was faced by those making their way to the island from Seattle.

The ferry MV Wenatchee was taken out of service the morning of Independence Day after it smacked into Pier 52 at Colman Dock in Seattle at 7:30 a.m. July 4.

The “hard landing” left a dent on the boat’s bow and a dimple in the dock.

Four sailings — two each from Bainbridge and Seattle — were canceled and the state’s busiest ferry route dropped to one-boat service.

Washington State Ferries spokesman John Vezina said engineers determined the damage on the Wenatchee didn’t need a quick fix.

“We decided it could remain in service and did not need any immediate repairs,” Vezina said.

“The Coast Guard inspected the Wenatchee and came to the same conclusion,” he said.

There were no reports of injuries on the Wenatchee, and no immediate reports of vehicles knocking into each other or motorcycles toppling after the ferry hit the dock.

“A lot of people didn’t even realize it was a hard landing,” Vezina said.

With just one ferry sailing to Bainbridge, the number of passengers on the MV Tacoma was limited to a maximum of 1,200, including vehicles and drivers.

Even so, no walkaboards from Seattle were stopped at the terminal, Vezina said.

WSF was ready to put the MV Hyak — a smaller vessel that can carry fewer passengers and vehicles — on the Bainbridge route, but it wasn’t necessary. The Wenatchee was returned to service at 12:20 p.m.

There were a few tweets from frustrated travelers, Vezina said, but not many. And having the Wenatchee inspected before putting it back on its run was a needed step.

“If there’s damage, definitely safety is always our first concern,” Vezina said.

“It seems like people took it in good spirits and understood.”

Motorists returning to the mainland after the holiday weekend faced an even longer wait.

With the Fourth falling on a Monday, the holiday weekend stretched till Tuesday for some — prompting long lines at the Bainbridge ferry terminal on July 5.

A one-hour wait for a boat in the morning became a two-hour or longer endurance test for motorists leaving the island by early afternoon.