Drivers, boaters and hikers alike may have noticed the huge sheet wrapped around the Deception Pass Bridge recently. It is part of ongoing work to repair and repaint the iconic bridge that began in 2019.

Travelers will be able to hear crews from Cekra, Inc. sandblast the bridge to remove old paint. The section that crews are currently working on is wrapped in sheeting to keep paint chips and sandblasting materials from falling into the water and surrounding environment.

Cekra took over the multi-million-dollar contract to repair and repaint the Deception Pass and Canoe Pass bridges earlier this year after the bondholder released the former contractor, Eagle Industrial Painting, LLC. The former contractor had one-third of the project completed last September and Cekra crews picked up where the old ones left off. The project was supposed to be done in 2020 but was delayed by a year because of the amount of old paint built up on the bridges.

The project budget is now $23 million.

Visitors can no longer park in the lot on Whidbey island next to the bridge but can access the bridge by hiking up a trail from North Beach via the main entrance to Deception Pass State Park. They may also see the shiny, new green paint on most of the Canoe Pass bridge and an increasing amount of the Deception Pass bridge.