photo courtesy of WSDOT
(SEATTLE) Not only is the big “Revive I-5” project back this weekend, but there’s a second project that will completely close another local freeway.
Two significant closures on the same weekend?
“This is how things are going to start to happen more and more often,” says Tom Pearce with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “In the coming years, we’re going to see a lot of major work happening at the same time on freeways. We have so much to do, that we’re going to have to have some overlap.”
And for most projects, they only have a small window each year when the weather cooperates.
I-5 Downtown Seattle
You’re no stranger to the I-5 project, as work has continued the last several weekends. It’s known as “Revive I-5,” and it specifically targets the replacement of aging expansion joints on the freeway through downtown Seattle. This summer, the focus is in the southbound lanes just south of downtown.
Pearce says this weekend’s work will close the mainline southbound lanes of the freeway, but the the Collector Distributor lanes will remain open. Even better, the end of the CD lanes has been re-striped, creating two lanes instead of one, so for the first time during this year’s round of southbound I-5 closures, there will be two lanes through instead of a single lane of freeway.
Lane closures begin tonight at 7:30, with the mainline southbound lanes of Interstate Five closed through early Monday morning.
520 between I-5 and the Eastside
While the fairly new 520 bridge has been open to traffic for a while, work continues to expand the freeway between Montlake and I-5, and this weekend, the work necessitates a full closure of the highway.
Contractors are creating a 3-acre lid at Montlake, and over two dozen large girders will be hoisted into place during this weekend’s closure.
“When we put these bridge girders in place, we don’t want anyone below,” says WSDOT’s Steve Peer. “They span an entire westbound lane, and are the backbone for that lid.”
This means SR 520 between I-5 and the Eastside will be closed in both directions beginning tonight at 11 through early Monday morning.
Westbound 520 Roanoke Exit
Once the weekend closures are over, drivers westbound on SR 520 won’t have access to the highway’s final exit before Interstate Five. Contractors have closed the Roanoke exit for up to 55 days to build a new retaining wall, and prepare the site for a wider ramp.
