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I-5 Tukwila to Pierce County Line HOV Lane - Stage 3

I-5 Tukwila to Pierce County Line HOV Lane Project page

Schedule: Good The overall project is about a year ahead of schedule. Cost: Mixed Engineer’s estimate: $28,361,292 Contractor’s bid amount: $24,314,164 Anticipated final payment: $30,705,000 The difference between the bid amount and the anticipated final payment can be attributed to numerous change orders after construction was underway due to inadequate traffic control coordination during project planning, design errors, and inaccurate survey data provided to the contractor by WSDOT.

The latest link in the Puget Sound high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lane system opened to traffic in time for the afternoon commute on Thursday, September 19 on Interstate 5 between Kent and Federal Way. The rapid progress, by Tri State Construction, (WSDOT's contractor) allowed all five lanes to open a full week ahead of schedule. This was cause for satisfaction as the highest-impact project in the central Puget Sound area, while not 100% complete, had at least reached a point where full capacity of the freeway could be utilized by relieved motorists.

The new lane can carry between 1,800 and 2,000 vehicles an hour, dramatically reducing congestion at one of the region’s worst bottlenecks. In fact, WSDOT traffic analysis shows that people in HOV lanes could shave up to 10 minutes off their evening commute. When the project got underway in March 2001, it was projected for completion in October 2003. Some work remains, but will occur mostly off the freeway, including final installation of the hardware needed to expand WSDOT’s traffic camera and flow map coverage on both directions of I-5 to South 320th Street.

Lessons Learned: This was a very complex portion of work. The bridge deck replacement was only one part of a larger, multi-phase HOV lane project. In the future, the readiness of plans that have been on the “shelf” will be assessed to ensure they are complete and accurate. Although this may require more time, it will improve plan quality and reduce the number of plan errors and change orders during construction. Changes in language for partnership agreements with local agencies to share cost increases will prevent WSDOT from having to fully absorb those costs. More accurate survey data will avoid costly design errors and numerous change orders. This may require more lane closures and traffic impacts during the design phase of the project to survey the work, but will provide a greater benefit in the long run.

Contractor: Tri State Construction

Contact:
Joe Scanlon, Project Engineer
Phone: 253-872-2962

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