Date:
Friday, June 29, 2007
Contact:
Joshua Cheatham, WSDOT Project Engineer, 253-872-2958 (Kent)
Mike Murphy, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4699 (Seattle)
FEDERAL WAY – Drivers planning to head south on Interstate 5 through Federal Way Monday night might want to find another route.
Crews working for WSDOT will close all lanes of southbound I-5 at S. 320th Street to install traffic sensors in the roadway. It begins Monday, July 2 with a single lane closure at 8 p.m. A second lane will be closed at 9 p.m., a third at 11 p.m., and the final lane at midnight. At that time, all traffic will be detoured off the freeway, where a police officer will direct traffic through the intersection and back onto I-5.
“Drivers should expect delays and consider taking alternate routes such as SR 99 or Military Road,” said Project Engineer Joshua Cheatham. “We expect congestion to ease as traffic volumes drop after 1 a.m.”
Crews will progressively reopen southbound I-5 beginning Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. Another lane will reopen at 6 a.m., a third at 8 a.m., and the fourth at 11 a.m.
This work is part of phase four of the I-5 - Pierce County Line to Tukwila HOV Lanes project. WSDOT is extending the carpool lane through South King County to improve safety and ease congestion. In the current phase, which began in spring 2005, crews widened I-5 from eight to ten lanes between S. 320th Street in Federal Way and the Pierce County line. Additionally, crews added more traffic cameras and improved the existing pavement. The traffic sensors feed traffic congestion and speed data to WSDOT’s traffic flow map.
For more information, please visit: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/hovPiercetoTukwila/i5HOV_Pierce_S320th.
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