Residents of Washington state island prepare as Ferrymageddon begins

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. (KOMO) — Bainbridge Island is working out contingencies as they prepare for "Ferrymageddon," a full week without ferry service for anything other than people walking on board a boat.

"Ferrymageddon," the word now coined on Bainbridge Island, starts Thursday and will last through Sept. 13. Washington State Ferries (WSF) is using the entire week to work on construction of a new pedestrian walkway at the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal. The project is so large and includes so many moving parts, there will be no service for bicycles, electric scooters, motorcycles or any vehicle.

The rhythm of the island depends a lot on the ferries, and when they said the ferry was not going to be functioning as usual, that was definitely a concern,” said Matt Grady, primary owner of Pegasus Coffee on Bainbridge Island.

No delivery trucks, no vehicles, not even bicycles or e-scooters will be allowed on the Bainbridge Island ferry route for one full week.

“We have to get this work executed now,” said Diane Rhodes with Washington State Ferries (WSF). She told KOMO News that it’s just not safe to allow people to even wheel a bicycle alongside people walking on, because the walkways right now are just too narrow for that.

Wider, more straightforward walkways with heat and some seating, are part of this new $33 million project at the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal. Plus, she said the new walkway is seismically sound.

Ferry riders told KOMO News they're frustrated about the disruptions this will cause on their daily commute.

I had to work around some things, leave the car on the other side, walk around downtown Bainbridge to do my job," said Joe Creech, who was traveling from Seattle to Bainbridge.

A full shutdown is needed so two large cranes can be built where vehicles normally load the boats. Those cranes will be used to lift four metal spans up onto concrete pillars to build the new walkway.

For 30-plus years, I’d never seen this before, you know, so this is new as far as I’m concerned, I guess I understand why they’re doing it because we’re trying to get the new Colman Dock up and running, but it seems like it’s a bit of an inconvenience for sure," said Marc Bale.

The Seattle-Bainbridge ferry route will only have one boat coming in and out for the entire week, so construction crews can get 90 minutes in between boats to get work done.

Two large cranes will be built where vehicles normally load to lift four metal spans up into place for the new walkway. Bale said it was a shock having to deal with the longer wait times.

It was a little bit of a surprise that they’re running only one boat instead of the normal two, so instead of the usual delay, I’ve run into I had the extra hour," he added.

The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce told KOMO News they’ve been working with their 500 members on all sorts of contingency plans to survive the shutdown.

“The financial impact is probably tied more to the fact that we’re dropping down to one boat schedule,” said Stefan Goldby with the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce.“I’m fairly confident we can hang in here for a week."

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