Portion of State Route 26 to close over football season

The detour will cause delays of approximately 15 minutes

CARMEN JARAMILLO, Evergreen reporter

A bridge on State Route 26 will be undergoing repairs later this month with potential impacts on travel to and from Pullman during WSU football season.

Drivers headed east and westbound along State Route 26 through Othello will be rerouted south to Connell before rejoining State Route 26.

The project is expected to take six weeks with completion in October after delays pushed back repairs scheduled for the middle of August.

The detour should take about 15 minutes, said Jeff Adamson, communications manager at the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Construction is needed on the bridge “before it is unsafe to use,” according to the WSDOT website. The 154-foot-long bridge was needing constant maintenance and planned repairs were advanced from 2019.

The bridge is used by about 2,000 vehicles a day, according to the WSDOT website, and that number can double during WSU event weekends.