Date:
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Contact:
Jamie Swift, WSDOT Communications, 360-357-2703 or 360-507-4261
TACOMA – Pierce County drivers were introduced this morning to several significant changes on Interstate 5 and State Route
16.
These changes are expected to ease congestion, increase safety – and initially cause a degree of confusion for drivers.
The new off-ramp to downtown Tacoma – exit 133 – is now one mile south of its previous location. Drivers destined for downtown need to pay extra attention, or they just might miss it. The new exit is just north of 38th Street and prior to the SR 16 curve.
Other changes include a mile-long, four-lane northbound collector-distributor roadway between the Tacoma Mall and Tacoma Dome, a new on-ramp to northbound I-5 from 38th Street (Tacoma Mall), and a new connection from eastbound SR 16 to northbound I-5. There has been no access to northbound I-5 from 38th Street since August 2005.
The new lanes and connections opened about 10:45 a.m., after crews worked throughout the frigid night setting barrier, paving, striping, and placing new signs and street lights.
More than 60,000 vehicles a day move off the regular northbound I-5 lanes and onto the collector-distributor lanes – a shift that cuts in half the daily traffic on this congested stretch of northbound I-5. Northbound drivers now need to prepare for merging traffic just south of the Tacoma Dome.
This project untangles the weave between SR 16 drivers moving left to get on I-5, and I-5 drivers moving right to get downtown. These conflicting movements slow down traffic and can contribute to collisions. Eliminating the weave on this stretch of northbound I-5 is expected to reduce collisions by about 75 a year.
While this project, on its own, increases safety and eases congestion, it is part of a larger network of projects that will significantly improve traffic flow through Pierce County. Those projects include the new Narrows Bridge, recent SR 16 improvements, and upcoming projects that build a new Nalley Valley viaduct and widen I-5 from downtown Tacoma to the King County line.
The I-5 HOV Improvements, 48th Street to Pacific Avenue project, now into its third year, also builds the approach ramp to the new westbound Nalley Valley viaduct, two new bridges over I-5, and creates space for future HOV lanes. The project is scheduled for completion next spring. For more information about this $72.9 million “Nickel” project, visit http://www.tacomatraffic.com/.
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