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Nearly three years of renovation and repair work to the Burnside Bridge is finally reaching completion.

The bridge will be closed to all users this weekend, from 11 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1 through 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4, to allow crews to remove traffic barricades and apply striping for a new traffic layout intended to hasten bus transit and increase pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

The new layout includes a transit-only eastbound lane and a two-foot buffer zone between bicycle and traffic lanes. White candlestick delineators will be installed in coming weeks to provide distinction between bicycle and motor vehicle lanes.

Construction on the approximately $19 million Burnside Bridge Maintenance Project began in early 2017 and included repairs to the road surface, sidewalks, railings, bridge structure, and mechanical and electrical systems that operate the drawbridge portion of the structure.

In coming months, contractor Hamilton Construction will also install protective fencing along the east edge of the bridge above Interstate 5. That work will not require lane closures.

The three-year project was carried out in order to extend the service life of the nearly century-old bridge before it undergoes either a major rehabilitation or total replacement in order to remain operable following a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

The Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project is now about to enter the federal environmental impact statement phase, and Multnomah County Commissioners will work on identifying three potential final bridge configurations at a Nov. 14 meeting.

Those choices were whittled down from nearly 100 original alternatives. The build options include an enhanced seismic retrofit of the existing bridge; an in-kind replacement of the bridge with a new movable bridge; and lastly, a movable bridge that also adds a new connection to Northeast Couch Street.