Highway 99 opens a day early after construction

Seahawksheads at Sunday afternoon’s football game will have a nice surprise as traffic will be much lighter than expected with the early opening of Highway 99. Just after 5 p.m. Saturday, crews opened the newly completed northbound lanes through SoDo a day early after they were closed for construction.

According to Travis Phelps, with the Washington Department of Transportation, the improvements include a new bridge connecting the highway to the southern end of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

“Couldn’t quite get it open for the Huskies game this morning [Saturday], which is too bad,” said Phelps, “but folks out and about will have to deal with driving the brand-new northbound lanes, which may be a little confusing to some folks at first, but definitely going to keep traffic moving a little bit better.”

The Department of Transportation had planned to leave the stretch of Highway 99 from the West Seattle Freeway to the stadiums closed all weekend for the work.