I-5 - Spokane Street to I-90 Bridge Repair - How Repairs Will be Made

The expansion joints on I-5 between Spokane Street and I-90 are covered by a steel plate. When repairs are made to the northbound lanes this August, the plates will be replaced and the road surface will be refinished.
 

A look inside the expansion joint without the steel plate cover. This gap allows the concrete slabs that make up the bridge to expand and contract as the temperature changes. Crews will fill this gap in with concrete and a flexible silicon substance during repairs in August.


A side view of the expansion joint. Steel pieces inside the joint connect the concrete slabs of the bridge. A large steel bolt runs through the joint, connecting the top plate to smaller bottom plates.


Crews examine one of the expansion joints to assess how repairs will be made in August.


An expansion joint as seen from below. The 40-year-old joints have undergone numerous retrofits and repairs over the years.


Contractor and WSDOT crews tour the bridge in April. WSDOT hired Concrete Barrier Inc. to pave more than one mile of northbound I-5 and replacing failing bridge expansion joints between Spokane Street and I-90 from Aug. 10 through 29. 


In June crews finished placing scaffolding underneath the I-5 expansion joints. The scaffolding will help crews access the joints they will repair or replace this summer. 


On the night of July 18, crews removed and replaced one of the damaged expansion joints on northbound I-5. This will help them troubleshoot any problems so work can go smoothly when they remove and replace 34 of these joints in August. Here, workers are cutting the old joint.

Expansion joint components at ABC Painting, Inc. in Vallejo, California, right before they are shipped to Seattle in early August.