Date:
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Contact:
Stanley Eng, Project Engineer, (253) 872-2958 (Kent)
Greg Phipps, WSDOT Communications, (206) 440-4702 (Seattle)
SEATTLE – Drivers will face significant lane and ramp closures next week on eastbound State Route 18 through Auburn.
During next week’s closures crews will install a new drainage pipe underneath eastbound lanes and ramps of the freeway.
At 9 p.m. nightly on Sunday, Aug. 27 through Tuesday, Aug. 29 crews will close the eastbound SR 18 ramp to northbound SR 167 and the southbound SR 167 ramp to eastbound SR 18. Both ramps will reopen by 5 a.m. each following morning. Crews will provide signed detours for the ramp closures.
At 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 and Thursday, Aug. 31, crews will close all lanes of eastbound SR 18 at SR 167 in Auburn. Drivers will be diverted around the closure using the eastbound SR 18 collector distributor lane. Eastbound SR 18 will reopen by 5 a.m. each following morning.
Drivers should expect delays while driving through the area and plan accordingly.
Closures to install the drainage pipe underneath westbound SR 18 lanes and ramps will continue into mid September. Drivers can find updated closure and project information on the Web at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR167/HOV15thSW_15thNW.
The pipe installation is part of work to build a northbound HOV lane between 15th Street SW and 15th Street NW in Auburn. Crews also will widen most on-ramps between 15th Street NW and S. 180th Street in Renton to add HOV bypass lanes, and add or upgrade ramp meters. Safety enhancements include median guardrail, wider shoulders, smoother transitions to exit ramps and a new lighting system at interchanges.
The project is funded through the Nickel Transportation Funding Package enacted by the 2003 Washington State Legislature. WSDOT expects to complete work on the $40.4 million project in fall 2007. In 2008 WSDOT will convert the new HOV lane to a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane for the HOT lanes pilot project.
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