Date:
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Contact:
Amir Ahmadi, Project Engineer, 425-225-8700 (Everett)
Meghan Soptich, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4704 (Seattle)
Bruce Gray, Sound Transit Communications, 206-398-5069 (Seattle)
EVERETT – This weekend, crews will begin placing the final bridge girders for Sound Transit’s South Everett Freeway Station project. For safety, crews will close all southbound I-5 lanes overnight to set the girders for the south portion of the new freeway overpass bridge at 112th Street SE in Everett. Drivers heading south through Everett late Saturday and early Sunday should expect delays and plan to use routes other than I-5.
At 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2 crews will close all southbound lanes of I-5 from SR 526 to 128th Street SW. Traffic will be detoured off southbound I-5 onto SR 527 (19th Avenue SE / Bothell-Everett Highway) and will re-enter the freeway at 128th Street SE. One lane will reopen to traffic at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, and all southbound lanes will reopen by 10 a.m.
Crews will also close 112th Street SE over I-5 from 11:30 p.m. Saturday to 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Drivers wishing to cross over I-5 should look for and follow detour signs directing traffic along SR 527 to 128th Street SE.
This operation has been carefully planned to maximize the amount of work crews can complete during this total closure of southbound I-5. In just one night, crews will set 8 girders total over southbound lanes. They will set the final girders of the project during the day on Monday, Feb. 4. That work will take place in the median and will not require lane closures.
Last month, crews closed northbound I-5 to set bridge girders over that side of the freeway.
“That closure went very smoothly,” said Project Engineer Amir Ahmadi. “Traffic on detour routes flowed well throughout the night, and our crews worked so efficiently that we reopened all lanes to traffic two and a half hours earlier than scheduled. We’re hoping this closure will go as well as the last one.”
On Monday, Feb. 4, crews will begin building a temporary work platform between the bridge girders. They’ll close two lanes of southbound I-5 Monday through Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. They will also close 112th St. SE over I-5 from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
This work is part of the I-5 South Everett Freeway Station Project, primarily funded by Sound Transit. WSDOT and Sound Transit have teamed up with the city of Everett to remove and replace the 112th Street SE bridges over I-5 with new, wider bridges as part of this project. The project, scheduled for completion in late 2008, will allow buses, carpools and vanpools to go directly from the I-5 HOV lanes to a new 400-stall park-and-ride lot in the I-5 median at 112th Street SE. A new access road from 112th Street SE will allow single-occupant vehicles to reach the park-and-ride. For more information please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/i5/SouthEverett.
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