CHOKEPOINTS

Weekend construction won’t ease up for football season

Sep 15, 2017, 12:14 PM | Updated: 12:46 pm

construction, I-5...

Prepare for traffic delays and road closures along northbound I-5 this weekend. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

There is a full slate of events this weekend with the Hawks and Huskies playing home games. The Washington State Fair is in full effect. And comedian Jim Gaffigan is at KeyArena.

And, of course, we will have a bunch of construction projects to navigate through. That adds up to traffic.

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“This is football season, so you have the Husky game, you also have the Hawks game,” said Lisa Van Cise with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

In between those games, for example, will be a closure on northbound I-5 to make emergency repairs on the collector distributor lanes into downtown Seattle:

  • No direct access to Madison and James Street exits between 4 p.m. on Friday to 10 a.m. on Sunday
  • Crews are fixing a bump in the concrete
  • Drivers on northbound I-5 will be able to get to I-90, but will get to the downtown exits via a detour along Dearborn Street
  • Drivers on eastbound I-90, coming from the stadiums, will be able to get to northbound I-5 via a detour along Dearborn Street

“So to time this 18 hour closure out was a little tricky, but we will be picked up and off the road by 10 a.m. Sunday so that folks heading to the Hawks game will not have to worry about this closure,” Van Cise said.

Other weekend construction

The Revive I-5 project will also mess with traffic heading north out of Federal Way, but Van Cise says it shouldn’t be as disruptive as this project has been in the past.

“We actually don’t have a full weekend closure on the books, but we have some overnight work,” she said. “Both Friday and Saturday nights, we will be doing some ramp paving on northbound Interstate 5 between 260th and 516 in Kent. Two lanes will be closed, but three lanes open.”

The state will also be out on Highway 509 all weekend between Sea-Tac and South Park:

  • Left lane closures on northbound and southbound 509 in Burien
  • Closed between 128th and 112th Streets
  • Crews replacing guardrails in the median

There will also be overnight lane closures on northbound I-5 in Seattle’s U-District on Saturday night.

So plan ahead, and make sure your wiper blades are in good shape. We’re going to get some legit rain, too.

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