Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Contact:
Jamie Swift, WSDOT Communications, (360) 357-2703
TACOMA – Interstate 5 lane and ramp closures are planned for the next four nights in the Tacoma Mall vicinity, where new sign bridges are going up and old ones are coming down.
Between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., tonight through Sunday morning, crews will close the 56th Street on-ramp to northbound I-5, the exit to 38th Street and SR 16 from northbound I-5, and all but the left lane of northbound I-5.
Installation of the new signage coincides with recent revisions on northbound I-5 through downtown Tacoma. Among those improvements are a new City Center exit and a new mile-long, multi-lane collector-distributor roadway.
With the closure of the northbound I-5 ramp to SR 16, drivers should use the City Center off-ramp (exit 133), then take southbound I-5 to get to SR 16.
Crews using a hydraulic crane will lift two new sign bridges into place. One sign bridge is 71 feet long and weighs 21,000 pounds, and the other is 146 feet long and weighs 46,000 pounds.
This work is part of the I-5 HOV Improvements, 48th Street to Pacific Avenue project, which wraps up in the spring. This project is part of WSDOT’s Tacoma/Pierce County HOV Program, a series of improvement projects that provide HOV lanes and operational improvements to I-5, SR 16 and SR 167. When the program is complete, drivers will be able to travel in an HOV lane from Gig Harbor to Everett.
For more information about this project and upcoming Tacoma/Pierce County HOV Program projects, visit tacomatraffic.com.
For the latest weather and roadway information, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic. For highway construction and maintenance updates, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/regions/olympic/construction or by calling 5-1-1.
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