No love on the roads this weekend with handful of major closures
Aug 16, 2019, 5:26 AM | Updated: 10:37 am
Seattle's SR 99 tunnel. (Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio)
(Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio)
Getting around this region on any weekend can be tough with all the congestion, but this weekend is shaping up to be particularly rough. That’s thanks to a series of major closures across a quartet of major roads.
What to know about Aurora Bridge work
In total, we have construction closures to navigate on I-5, 405, 90 and Highway 99. Suffice it to say, it’s going to be very busy.
Let’s start with the SR 99 tunnel. The southbound direction will be closed from 10 p.m. tonight to 8 a.m. Saturday for its monthly maintenance program — cleaning, inspecting, testing. Basically, all the stuff the engineers do once a month to make sure it’s in good health.
I-5 southbound will have lane closures across the Ship Canal Bridge from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. both Friday and Saturday nights. Bridge deck repair work will close two southbound lanes overnight.
Both of those closures coupled with the scheduled Aurora Bridge work will make getting through Seattle really rough. Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Pearce said the bridge will be reduced to just one lane in each direction from 7 p.m. tonight through 5 a.m. Monday.
“This is the same kind of work we have been doing south end of the bridge,” he said. “This time, we’re going to be working on the north end.”
This Aurora Bridge work has caused big delays on the previous work weekends.
“We see backups on I-5 and SR 99,” Pearce said. “We also see backups in the neighborhoods.”
We’re waiting for final confirmation that this closure is a go. It has been canceled the last two times it was scheduled because of wet weather.
When will weather cooperate for Highway 2?
I-405 gets into the action in downtown Bellevue again this weekend. This is the second weekend of tearing-down the super-structure around the new light rail bridge over the freeway.
This weekend it’s a northbound issue. Friday through Saturday, the ramp to Northeast 8th will be closed. Saturday night through Monday morning all northbound lanes will be closed, with only one collector distributor lane open to handle the traffic.
WSDOT’s Bart Treece explained that you don’t want to find yourself stuck on Sunday.
“That one lane does not hold a lot of traffic, and it’s going to back up really fast,” he said. “Those delays will be really long if people don’t plan ahead.”
And finally, I-90. All eastbound lanes of the freeway will be closed from I-5 to Island Crest Way on Mercer Island from 10 p.m. Saturday night through 5 a.m. Sunday morning. You will be able to get on to I-90 eastbound from Island Crest Way. This is for tunnel inspections.
