The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) performed “urgent maintenance” on the Ship Canal Bridge Tuesday morning. The road work closed the two right lanes of the bridge, causing traffic slowdowns.

Heads up! Keep an eye out for maintenance crews on southbound I-5 on the ship canal bridge. They will be shutting down 2 right lanes for urgent maintenance work. This also means we need to close 2 right lanes of the express lanes. This work is expected to take a couple hours. pic.twitter.com/UvYkLFAqGC

— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) September 13, 2022

A spokesperson for WSDOT declined to comment on the specific nature of the repair, saying “Earlier this morning we received a call regarding an issue requiring an emergency bridge deck repair on the southbound mainline I-5 ship canal bridge. Two southbound lanes were closed as well as two southbound express lanes, given the repair is being made from below the mainline bridge.”

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KIRO Newsradio traffic reporter Chris Sullivan reports that the emergency road work could be related to anything from concrete repair to expansion joint replacement.

Update 10:49 a.m.

The two lanes have been reopened just before 10:30 a.m.

UPDATE: All lanes of both the SB I-5 mainline and express lanes at the Ship Canal Bridge in #Seattle are now re-opened after earlier emergency bridge deck repairs. Thank you for your patience! pic.twitter.com/YCRDGhJpPq

— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) September 13, 2022

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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