The state Transportation Department says more repairs are needed on a key pontoon that will anchor the east end of the new Highway 520 floating bridge on Lake Washington in Seattle.
The department said Wednesday that cracks have been patched in Pontoon W, but six 58-foot tall pillars will have to be replaced because the rebar shifted when the concrete was poured. The contractor, Kiewit-General-Mason, is responsible for the cost.
Fixing cracks in a total of four pontoons is the responsibility of the state because of design errors and it could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the project, which already is more than $4 billion.
A total of 32 of the 77 pontoons for the new floating bridge have been completed at Aberdeen and Tacoma.