The Washington State Department of Transportation is asking for driver’s help while crews close northbound Interstate 405 from Friday, June 2 through the morning of Tuesday, June 6. During the closure crews will work around the clock to lower a section of northbound I-405 under the NE 124th Street bridge.
All lanes of northbound I-405 at NE 124th Street will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday, June 2, until 5 a.m. Tuesday, June 6. Northbound traffic will be funneled into a two-lane temporary bypass. Heavy traffic backups are expected, especially during Monday afternoon commute hours.
The lengthy closure is necessary for crews to remove pavement on a 920-foot-long section of northbound I-405, lower the northbound lanes about three feet, and place new pavement. Northbound traffic lanes have been shifted away from the median during construction and are higher than the southbound lanes. Lowering the freeway ensures all traffic has adequate vertical clearance underneath the NE 124th Street bridge. This work is important especially for semi-trucks and other large vehicles.
This work is associated with Sound Transit’s Totem Lake Freeway Station Project, designed and built by WSDOT. New ramps in the I-405 median will allow buses, vanpools and carpools to enter and exit the freeway without merging through three lanes of traffic, easing congestion and enhancing safety for all drivers. The NE 128th Street bridge will provide a new east-west route across I-405 for all drivers. The new ramps and bridge are scheduled to open this fall and are expected to carry more than 100 daily bus trips. This project complements WSDOT’s broader plan for improvements along the I-405 corridor.
WSDOT will also close the northbound on-ramp from eastbound NE 124th Street around the clock beginning early Friday, June 2, and continuing until a few days after the northbound mainline closure. Before the mainline freeway closure, crews will build connections allowing traffic to use the ramp as a bypass around the work zone. They will later rebuild the ramp to its final configuration after the mainline work is completed.
At least three lanes of southbound I-405 will remain open. The southbound HOV lane near NE 124th Street could be closed intermittently throughout Saturday and Sunday to help crews expedite their work.
WSDOT asks I-405 drivers to prepare for delays. Drivers should plan to take alternate routes such as I-5 and SR 202, carpool, vanpool, ride the bus, or reschedule trips. WSDOT is taking extra measures to keep traffic moving during construction. For example, extra Incident Response Teams will stand ready to respond immediately to incidents or disabled vehicles on I-405 and in the work zone during construction.
A major closure extending into workdays is unusual for WSDOT. After careful analysis WSDOT engineers determined that this was the most reasonable way to complete the required construction work. WSDOT’s construction contract provides a financial incentive to our contractor, Max J. Kuney Construction of Spokane, if they finish early and reopen northbound I-405 before the Monday afternoon commute.
The work is weather dependent and could be postponed. On Wednesday, May 31 WSDOT and Max J. Kuney Construction will review weather reports and decide whether to proceed with the construction.
WSDOT will provide frequent traffic and our construction updates throughout the weekend on our project Web page, www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/i405/TotemLake/construction