Date:  Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Contact: Greg Phipps, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4702 (Seattle)

Drivers: do you have your plan to get around?

SEATTLE – The clock is ticking on WSDOT’s biggest construction closure ever. One month from today – Aug. 10 – WSDOT crews will close multiple lanes and ramps on northbound Interstate 5 between Spokane Street and I-90 around the clock for 19 days to perform extensive rehabilitation work on the freeway.

This closure will dramatically affect traffic in the greater-Seattle area. WSDOT is asking drivers to make a plan now so you can get around without getting stuck in extensive traffic backups.

During the 19-day closure, crews will break apart and remove 34 failing expansion joints that link the concrete bridge slabs that comprise this 40-year-old freeway section. If these expansion joints completely fail, large pieces of metal and three-foot-long bolts would pop up from the freeway deck and lead to potentially deadly collisions. Crews will also pave northbound I-5 between Spokane Street and I-90.

We want to reduce the number of vehicles on northbound I-5 just south of downtown by more than fifty percent to help prevent gridlock. Unless drivers help, WSDOT traffic engineers expect severe congestion on I-5 from 4 a.m. to midnight every day, and worst-case scenario backups extending from downtown Seattle to Tacoma. If drivers help, as they have in the past, worst-case traffic backups won’t occur. We are counting on drivers to help keep traffic moving while we get this important construction done.

WSDOT has been preparing for this closure for months. We have contacted hundreds of community and business groups; worked extensively with the city of Seattle and transit agencies, mailed informational packets to a thousand major employers, and much more.

Now that the closure is a month away, we need drivers to help. We are asking drivers to:

• take a look at bus and Sounder train schedules and vanpool options in your area and consider how they could work for you
• talk to your employer about teleworking one or more days a week
• consider flexing your work schedule and commuting very early or late
• plan to arrive early and stay late when visiting downtown for shopping and entertainment. Arrive early and go out for breakfast or stay late and enjoy dinner in the city
• visit our commute options Web page www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair/CommuteOptions

Construction prep work is already underway. Drivers may have noticed scaffolding located under I-5 and workers in protective suits removing old, lead-based paint from the freeway expansion joints and bolts.

Drivers will notice overnight lane closures and work on both north and southbound as we get closer to Aug. 10. We hope each of these closures serve as a mental tickler: plan ahead, the work is really happening and it’s right around the corner.

www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair

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