By BRENDA SEXTON

Reporter Newspapers

The sixth-month Kummer Bridge closure on State Route 169 is forcing the Enumclaw School District to reroute its school buses serving Black Diamond students.

“It’s just a little wrinkle in the flow,” district transportation supervisor Everett Cunningham said of the closure, which could last at least most of the rest of the school year.

Cunningham said the district is using two alternative routes to move its high school, middle school, elementary school and special-needs students back and forth between Black Diamond and Enumclaw.

The first alternative sends buses along 212th Avenue Southeast, down Whitney Hill to the Green River Valley and along the road past Flaming Geyser State Park back to SR 169. The other uses Franklin Road to come out on the east side of Black Diamond.

School buses are leaving 10 to 15 minutes earlier to accommodate the changes, Cunningham said.

An Early Childhood Educational Assistance Program at Black Diamond and the transfer bus that takes Black Diamond students to the Southwood Elementary School Magic Strings program is also running later.

Cunningham said the detours have created more traffic for the buses to navigate, bringing them in later on the evening runs.

There is concern as winter weather approaches. Cunningham said in icy or inclement conditions, Whitney Hill is closed to through traffic.

The state Department of Transportation closed the bridge at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 for up six months of repairs after geotechnical experts determined the soil beneath some of the bridge supports was too unstable. DOT officials said the closure is for the safety of motorists because if soil under the southernmost pier of the bridge slides, the pier could slide with it.