Date:  Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Contact: Mike Murphy, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4699
Jeff Switzer, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4700
Quick info: www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009/today

SEATTLE – After nearly two weeks of tough commutes, relief is in sight for drivers who travel westbound I-90. By 5 a.m. Saturday morning, traffic will shift back to the westbound mainline lanes of the I-90 floating bridge as crews sprint to complete major repair work.

Drivers still need to plan for delays for the rest of this week as all westbound traffic still is funneled into the I-90 express lanes on Mercer Island. The I-90 bottleneck has caused some evening commutes to stretch to 85 minutes across Lake Washington, and some mornings drivers trekked for nearly an hour from I-405 to Seattle.

“In just a few days, traffic will be back to normal crossing Lake Washington,” WSDOT Assistant Regional Administrator Russ East said. “We’ve seen travel times go up this past week, and we know that two weeks is a long time for drivers to change their commute, but thank them for making traffic much smoother than we predicted.”

Traffic changes coming up:

• From 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., Wednesday and Thursday, July 15 and 16: The I-90 bicycle pedestrian path will close intermittently nightly for construction work.
• From 8 p.m. to midnight Friday, July 17: The westbound I-90 off-ramps to Rainier Avenue will close for restriping.
• From 9 p.m. Friday, July 17, to 9 a.m. Saturday, July 18: Crews will close lanes on Bellevue Way near I-90 to restripe. Drivers still will have access to the eastbound and westbound ramps to I-90.
• From 9 p.m. Friday, July 17, through 5 a.m. Saturday, July 18: Crews will close all but one westbound lane on I-90 for restriping work.
• By 5 a.m. Saturday, July 18: All westbound mainline lanes of I-90 reopened to traffic; all Mercer Island on-ramps to westbound mainline I-90 reopen.
• By 5 a.m. Saturday, July 18: I-90 express lanes completely closed for restriping work.
• By 5 a.m. Sunday, July 19: I-90 express lanes reopen for the Seafair Triathlon bicyclists.
• After 10:30 a.m. Sunday, July 19: I-90 express lanes scheduled to reopen to vehicle traffic.
• How bad is traffic? Travel delay information is posted regularly at www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009/today.

Drivers minimized severe backups along the corridor by shifting when they traveled, or skipped traveling altogether. Preliminary counts show that, at first, thousands of drivers avoided traveling during peak commute times. Morning traffic is heaviest after 6:30 a.m. weekdays and sometimes doesn’t ease up until after 10:30 a.m. Evening traffic is heavy between 3 and 7 p.m.

Crews spent nearly two weeks tearing out and replacing two massive expansion joints on the I-90 floating bridge. Cranes tucked the huge joints into position last weekend and crews poured concrete Tuesday morning. Good weather and experience from replacing similar joints in May on the I-90 express lanes led the contractor and WSDOT to draft a solid plan for these two weeks of construction.

WSDOT is replacing cracked expansion joints on westbound I-90 and the express lanes across the floating bridge. Engineers are concerned the joints could pose a safety concern if not replaced. WSDOT replaced the joints in the express lanes from May 4-16. Work to replace the joints in the westbound mainline lanes began July 5. For more information, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i90/HomerHadleyBridgeRepair.

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