Date:  Thursday, July 21, 2011

Contact:
Dave Chesson, WSDOT communications, 360-661-7829 (Burlington)

Drivers urged to take alternate routes to avoid hour delays

BURLINGTON – Twelve miles of Interstate 5 will be reduced to one lane from Burlington to Bellingham for a week starting Monday. And it could take an hour or more to drive through the construction.

Before the 87-hour-long lane closure begins, crews will first close one lane of northbound I-5 for 12 hours from 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 24, to 11:59 a.m. Monday, July 25. Then the around-the-clock, weeklong lane closure will begin soon after.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will close one lane of northbound I-5 from 7 p.m. Monday, July 25, to 10 a.m. Friday, July 29, between the Chuckanut Drive (exit 230) and Nulle Road interchanges (exit 242). Crews also will close on- and off-ramps at night to repave them.

Drivers are urged to take alternate routes and adjust their commute times to avoid hour delays. The longest delays are expected during the afternoon commute, between 2 and 6 p.m. each day.

“If it were me, I’d take a different route around the work,” said Jason Koreski, WSDOT project lead. “It’ll be a slow drive through the construction with as much work as we’ll have going on. We’re going to beat feet to get it all done.”

During the around-the-clock, weeklong lane closure, crews will rip out two concrete bridge approaches, repair bridge decks, replace concrete road panels, tie panels together with dowel bars, and pave.

The complex work will require extra manpower, with 50 to 75 workers and nearly as many trucks and pieces of equipment on site at any given time.

When the project is completed this fall, I-5 will be stronger and smoother for drivers.

Pictures of the work from the first around-the-clock closure are available on Flickr, and more project details are available on the Web page.

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