WSDOT's $203 million I-5 project in King and Snohomish counties includes new concrete panels, pavement, and deck repaving. Commuters face lane closures from Yesler Way to Northgate until 2025, with further work planned through 2026.
Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation
Crews install wiring to support the suspended scaffolding.
Work is under way on yet another project in the Washington Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) ongoing efforts to revitalize Interstate 5 in King and Snohomish counties — a corridor it describes as "a lifeline that people and commerce count on every day."
The $203 million project is made possible through federal funds from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the 2003 Transportation Partnership Account (TPA) and the 2005 Nickel Program.
Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation
The project spans the interstate from Yesler Way to the Northgate area and calls for new concrete roadway panels, pavement, expansion joints and deck repaving through downtown Seattle and the Lake Washington Ship Canal Bridge. The design-build contract was awarded to Guy F. Atkinson Construction last summer.
"Right now, the contractor is putting up a suspended platform on the I-5 Lake Washington Ship Canal bridge," WSDOT spokesman Tom Pearce said. "That will allow workers to access parts of the bridge and also acts as a safety measure. The Ship Canal bridge is a double-decker bridge.
"The Express Lanes are underneath and the main lanes on top, and so the platform will keep any material, loose material or tools or anything falling into the lanes of traffic. Then we have one underneath, too, because of Lake Union and that will protect that and the roadway and walkways from any falling material or tools."
The Ship Canal Bridge carries 200,000 vehicles daily— about 100,000 in each direction and the work zone is about 8 miles in distance
This section of I-5 was built in the early to mid-1960s and was part of a preservation and maintenance program starting in about 2010. Much of the concrete surface is original, with patches and repairs throughout leaving it rutted and cracked. Since most of it is elevated, it is technically considered a bridge and features numerous expansion joints to allow it to flex and bend with the weight of traffic and weather conditions, Pearce said.
The Revive I-5 program began in about 2014 and has 15 to 20 future projects for which WSDOT has identified funding. "It's everything from paving to fish passages to seismic retrofit, Pearce said. There are also another dozen or so projects that do not yet have funding sources, he said.
The Yesler Way to Northgate project promises to be a headache for commuters with long-term lane closures beginning in March and lasting into fall 2025.
"We will reduce the I-5 main line to two lanes northbound ... and to keep people moving, we will have the Express Lanes operate northbound the full time, Pearce said. "Usually they reverse — they're southbound in the morning into the city and northbound out of the city in the evening. Now, they're just going to be all northbound."
Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation
In 2026, crews will reduce the southbound lanes from the Ship Canal Bridge to Denny Way and the express lanes will operate southbound full time. But in June, all lanes on the interstate will open temporarily.
"We'll do our closure probably late winter, then in early June, one week before the FIFA World Cup, our contractor has to pick up everything," Pearce said. "A week after, they can come back and reclose the southbound lanes and work through the fall.
WSDOT also plans four full directional closures to allow workers to install concrete — or Jersey — barriers to separate traffic from the workers. The first weekend closure will take place on northbound I-5 likely in March, with express lanes open. In midsummer, a second closure will be necessary to move the barrier and restripe and move work to the right lanes. A third closure will occur when the work is finished so the barriers can be removed.
"People are still going to be able to get where they want to go, but they are going to have to plan ahead; they're going to have to consider alternatives, traveling at maybe a little different time than what they're used to, using public transportation, carpools, van pools," Pearce said. "People are going to be able to do what they want to do, but it's going to require some planning."
Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation
A map of the I-5 project area.
Lori Tobias
Lori Tobias is a journalist of more years than she cares to count, most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian and previously as a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.
Read more from Lori Tobias here.
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