The West Seattle Bridge reopens after a 2.5-year closure

Travel with me back to March 2020, when the pandemic upended all our lives. For West Seattle residents, that month packed a double-whammy, kicking off a 2.5-year closure of their main connection to the rest of the city.

Driving the news: Now, those dark days are over. The West Seattle Bridge reopened Saturday night, dramatically reducing travel time to what lately has felt like a faraway peninsula.

Catch up fast: People celebrated. Politicians held a grand reopening press conference.

• And three breweries collaborated on a special beer to commemorate the occasion, which they aptly dubbed "Reunited IPA."

Context: The massive cracks that prompted the bridge's emergency closure have now been fixed, officials say.

• The repair project so far has cost about $102 million. That includes the cost of establishing detour routes and adding traffic improvements to nearby neighborhoods.
• Of note: The Seattle transportation department says the bridge is historically Seattle's most-used street, carrying more than 100,000 vehicles a day.

The bottom line: You no longer have a good excuse to avoid visiting your West Seattle friends.