Date:
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Contact:
WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4788 (Seattle)
WSDOT Public Hotline, 206-440-4704 (Seattle)
SEATTLE – The overnight and morning rain showers have kept paving crews from their work, but crews continue to plug away on replacing expansion joints. Despite the rain, the project is still on track to be completed on or before Saturday, Aug. 25.
Construction
Crews need a six hour window to place pavement and ensure that their efforts are both quality and cost-effective. They are hoping to have a dry window this afternoon and will be checking conditions throughout the day. Once they see that window approach, they will fire up the giant blow dryer to help dry the existing pavement to allow work to begin.
Meanwhile, crews continue work on expansion joints with 19 of the 34 expansion joints now complete. Crews have set up canopies in order to do welding work on four joints. When the first round of welding is complete, crews will shift the canopies to work on other joints. Throughout the day, other members of the crew will be working to prep the remaining joints for welding.
Traffic
Traffic this morning has been light, but volumes continue to grow. We saw steady back-ups yesterday to Michigan Street. With a Mariners game and other events in downtown today, drivers are encouraged to consider alternate routes such as State Route 99, Airport Way, Fourth Avenue S., First Avenue S. and East Marginal Way. WSDOT also encourages travelers to use transit, carpool, and avoid or reschedule trips, as only two lanes of northbound I-5 will be open for the duration of the project.
The West Seattle Bridge/Spokane St. on-ramp remains closed until Monday at 5 a.m. Drivers are encouraged to continue thinking about their commute Monday morning and through the week, as only two northbound I-5 lanes will be open through the duration of the project.
Collector-distributor signs
Early Sunday morning WSDOT maintenance crews covered the yellow "exit only" text on the Exit 164A sign to help drivers in the right lane know they can stay in their lane and stay on I-5. On Saturday morning, crews also added a shield for I-5 on the Exit 164A sign and installed an orange sign on the right side of the freeway that reads "I-5 NORTH" and has arrows for both lanes. WSDOT traffic engineers hope these measures will convey to drivers that both lanes can be used for northbound I-5. However, they will continue to monitor the situation and make further modifications as needed.
Drivers can plan their route at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair/AlternateRoutes.htm. Keep track of construction work as it happens at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair/traffic.htm
For project details, resources available to get drivers through these closures, and suggestions for alternate routes, please visit the project Web site at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair
< Back to News Home