CHOKEPOINTS
Prepare for NB I-5 closures through Seattle this weekend
May 18, 2023, 5:36 AM | Updated: 2:22 pm
Northbound I-5 drivers heading through Seattle need to have their plans together this weekend. All northbound traffic is going to be diverted off I-5 and onto SR 520 from 10 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is putting up 15 steel girders that will support the new reversible HOV lane between the two freeways.
“Any drivers that are on northbound I-5 during that 12-hour period will be detoured to eastbound 520,” WSDOT’s Tony Black said. “They’ll take the Montlake exit and turn around and get back on 520 where they can then rejoin northbound I-5 just passed the work zone.”
If you don’t get off at Montlake, you will be driving to Bellevue and paying the 520 toll.
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After that work finishes up over the mainline of northbound I-5, the express lanes will close until 10 a.m. Sunday as the girder placement continues.
“They are going to be driving through an active construction zone so we’re asking everybody to plan ahead, plan for any potential delays to their trip, and if they don’t need to be out on the road during those times just avoid the area or take an alternate route,” Black said.
This reversible lane will run next to the existing westbound 520 ramp to southbound I-5, but it will dive down into the express lanes.
It is expected to open in the middle of next year, but for transit only. The entire 520 construction project will be complete in about eight or nine years.
