Warren Avenue Bridge: A Safer Crossing
For people walking and bicycling between East and West Bremerton, the Warren Avenue Bridge has long presented a major obstacle. Its sidewalks are less than four feet wide—too narrow for two bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers, or pedestrians to comfortably pass one another. That is finally set to change.
A much safer bridge
The City of Bremerton’s Warren Avenue Bridge Multimodal Improvements Project will create a 12-foot-wide shared-use path on the east side of the bridge for people walking, bicycling, and using mobility devices. The west side will have a five-foot sidewalk. The project will also provide ADA improvements, new pedestrian railings and barriers, improved lighting, and other bridge upgrades.
The project is particularly important because Warren Avenue Bridge provides a critical connection across the Port Washington Narrows and is part of the Bremerton’s Bridge-to-Bridge Trail and the future, safe, East Bremerton Bike-Pedestrian corridor linking downtown to the north city limits.
The approximately $27 million project is fully funded. Design and permitting are expected to continue into spring 2027, with construction anticipated from 2027 through 2029. Due to funding limitations, the work includes improvements for cars and all users on the bridge, but no improvements for off-bridge connectors to the surrounding community. Funding and construction of off-bridge connectors are needed to make the on-bridge improvements useful to the bike and pedestrian community.
West Sound Cycling Club advocates for a wider path
West Sound Cycling Club has been involved in the project planning process for several years. The club participated in the City’s Stakeholder Advisory Group, which met during development of alternatives for improving bicycle and pedestrian access across the bridge.
Dianne Iverson represented West Sound Cycling Club on the stakeholder committee and advocated for at least one side of the bridge to have a 12-foot-wide shared-use path. Her concern was not simply providing a place for bicycles. A sufficiently wide path is important so that cyclists, pedestrians, people using wheelchairs and mobility devices, and families with strollers can safely pass each other.
West Sound Cycling Club Advocacy Chair Paul Dutky also raised bicycle, pedestrian, and ADA-access concerns during earlier planning for the SR 303 corridor and Warren Avenue Bridge. His comments included the need for better connections at the ends of the bridge and consideration of a substantially wider path on one side.
The result is significant: the project now moving toward construction includes the 12-foot east-side shared-use path that local advocates fought to keep in the design.
Why this project matters
The photograph above of Paul Dutky riding on the existing bridge path illustrates the problem better than words can. A cyclist nearly fills the available space. Passing another bicycle, a wheelchair, or even a pedestrian can be extremely difficult.
When construction is completed, the 12-foot shared-use path will fundamentally change that experience. Instead of being a barrier for people traveling by bicycle or on foot, Warren Avenue Bridge can become an important link in Bremerton’s growing network of safe walking and bicycling routes.
For West Sound Cycling Club, the project also demonstrates why sustained local advocacy matters. Participation on planning committees, submitting comments, attending public meetings, and advocating for safe designs can and has influenced the final bridge design.
Construction is currently expected to begin in 2027, with completion in 2029.
Link to City of Bremerton’s Warren Avenue Bridge Multimodal Improvements Project Page