Date:
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Contact:
Claudia Cornish, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Communications Manager, (253) 534-4646
• 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday through Thursday, June 17-21
Single-lane closures on SR 16 between Union and Jackson avenues for HOV-striping work.
TACOMA – As time draws near to the opening of the new Narrows Bridge, crews are preparing State Route 16 for a coordinated opening of high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes on both sides of the Narrows. The work will require night single lane closures on both sides of the bridge.
From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each Sunday through Thursday morning between June 17 and 27, WSDOT maintenance crews will close ½-mile sections of the westbound inside lane of SR 16 between Union and Jackson avenues in Tacoma. While the lane is closed, they will remove the yellow inside stripe and replace it with an eight-inch solid white stripe, which delineates an HOV lane. They will also paint HOV diamonds in the lane and install HOV signage along the corridor. The lane will remain closed to traffic until the new bridge opens in mid-July.
Similar work will occur during night hours on eastbound and westbound SR 16 between the bridge and Olympic Drive in Gig Harbor, and they will also require single-lane night closures. Specific dates and times for this work will be announced.
The new SR 16 HOV lanes will be designed as 2+, which means they will be available for vehicles with two or more people in them. They will open concurrently with the new bridge, with two exceptions: 1) the eastbound HOV lane segment between Jackson Avenue and Union Avenue, which is already open; and 2) the westbound HOV lane segment between the bridge and Olympic Drive, which will open before the new bridge to allow motorists to get accustomed to the roadway configuration. At Olympic Drive, the HOV restriction will be lifted and the lane will be opened to general-purpose traffic. At the same time, the far right lane will merge into its adjacent lane. The same configuration can be seen with the eastbound HOV lane at Union Avenue.
The new HOV lanes on State Route 16 mark the first step toward building a more comprehensive HOV system in Pierce County. In the future WSDOT plans to build I-5 HOV lanes to King County, where HOV lanes have been in operation for some time. The HOV system in greater Seattle moves 33 percent of the people in 18 percent of the cars and is a successful tool in congestion management.
HOV lanes have other benefits. Those include:
· Efficiency – HOV lanes improve freeway efficiency by moving more people in fewer cars. During commute hours, HOV lanes carry one third of the people in only one fifth of the vehicles.
· Reliability – HOV lanes improve public transit reliability by allowing buses to maintain their schedules. Carpools and vanpools benefit the same way.
· Speed, ease and economy – People who use HOV lanes find that HOV traffic generally moves faster, sharing the ride improves their commute and they save money on fuel and vehicle maintenance.
For more information on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project, please visit tacomanarrowsbridge.com or http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr16narrowsbridge/
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