Date:  Thursday, June 21, 2012

Contact: Dustin Terpening, WSDOT communications, 360-757-5997 (Burlington)

Drivers should plan ahead for lengthy delays June 25-28

BURLINGTON – “Alligator cracking” sounds more like a rare skin disease than a technical term used to classify pavement conditions. But that’s exactly how maintenance crews describe Interstate 5 north of Burlington.

“The best way I can explain it is that it looks like alligator skin,” said Tony Hernandez, maintenance superintendent with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “When you slow down, it’s easy to see that it’s in pretty bad shape.”

A half-mile of southbound I-5 with the worst cracking and crumbling, between the Cook Road (exit 232) and Chuckanut Drive (exit 231) interchanges, will be repaved June 25 through 28.

Drivers can expect fairly lengthy delays while southbound I-5 is reduced to one lane from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. Crews will grind out and repave both wheel tracks in the right lane.

The on-ramp from Cook Road and exit to Chuckanut Drive in the southbound direction will also be closed during the same time frame. Signed detour routes will be in place to help direct drivers.

“Drivers should definitely plan their trips around this work so they don’t get stuck in traffic,” Hernandez said. “I would suggest consider taking an alternate route, too.”

< Go Back