What are piles and what is pile driving?
Piles are supports for a structure. For this project, steel piles form the foundations of bridges crossing the West Hylebos, Hylebos and Wapato creeks. The piles look like giant, hollow, steel tubes. A pile driver is a machine mounted on a tall crane that pounds the piles into the ground. Watch a video clip of pile driving.
Why is WSDOT driving piles in Fife and Milton?
We are widening both directions of I-5 between the King/Pierce county line and Port of Tacoma Road so we can add carpool lanes. We are widening in the median, which means we need to build bridges over the creeks that flow under and in the median of the freeway. These bridges require pile driving, and that is what you’re hearing at night in and the early morning hours.
Why is this noisy work done at night, instead of during the day?
The pile-driving work requires closing a lane for equipment access and keeping motorists and workers safe. A lane closure through Fife during the daytime hours would lead to miles of backups and delays for the more than 200,000 vehicles that use this stretch of freeway each day.
How long will pile driving continue?
This is the current pile-driving work schedule (subject to change):
- Hylebos Creek - Pile-driving is complete.
- Wapato Creek - Pile driving is complete.
- West Hylebos Creek - Oct. 5 - Dec. 17, 2009
