Revive I-5, Montlake Bridge closure will cause traffic issues this weekend
May 20, 2022, 11:02 AM | Updated: 11:23 am
The sunny forecast will put Seattleites in a great mood this weekend, but the traffic won’t.
Southbound I-5 through Seattle will be shut down for the first of a summer’s worth of weekend closures for expansion joint repairs, aka Revive I-5. The work was supposed to begin the weekend of May 7th, but the rainy weather hasn’t cooperated the past two weekends.
Thirty-five metal expansion joints need to be replaced on I-5 from downtown to about Spokane Street. They are the spots where you’ve been bouncing on the freeway since last year when the Washington State Department of Transportation repaved. “I-5 was built in the ’60s, and 32 of the 35 expansion joints in this work area are original,” WSDOT’s Amy Moreno told KIRO Newsradio’s Chris Sullivan.
I-5 expansion joint repair will hamper your summer driving
In addition, the Montlake Bridge will be closed from Friday at 11:00 p.m. through Monday at 5:00 a.m., which will be a huge pain for people who are trying to get to the U-District Street Fair this weekend. This should be the final bridge closure for this project, according to Sullivan.
In Snohomish County, northbound I-5 drivers will have to deal with nighttime closures near the light rail construction zone in Mountlake Terrace. Sullivan says Sound Transit is removing all the final pieces of a support structure under the new freeway crossing. All northbound drivers will be forced to exit at SR 104 from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Sunday heading into Monday.
Visit our Traffic Map in case you need help navigating around the region this weekend.
KIRO Newsradio’s Chris Sullivan contributed to this report.
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