Road closures, sporting events a recipe for Seattle weekend traffic
Sep 8, 2016, 6:38 AM | Updated: 7:33 am
(AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks’ season opener is Sunday in Seattle. The Huskies are home on Saturday. And you are going to have to deal with a directional closure of I-90 as you make your way to and from the games.
The state is doing these closures to improve the life safety and fire suppression systems inside the I-90 tunnels and install new lighting. It’s part of preparations to add HOV lanes to the outer roadways and give Sound Transit what is now the express lanes for light rail tracks.
This weekend will be an eastbound closure. All eastbound drivers will be squeezed into the express lanes from Friday night until Monday morning.
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“There’s never a good weekend to do road work,” Annie Johnson with the Washington State Department of Transportation said. A good amount of the work the state does is weather dependent, which means taking advantage of those dry days, she added.
But really, a closure like this on a Hawks and Huskies weekend? Johnson says, believe it or not, this weekend, even with the teams in town, was a better choice than others.
Expect I-5 to take some of the extra load as people avoid I-90. The 520 Bridge will also see a lot of traffic. That is going to be an issue Saturday for the Huskies.
I expect this closure to have the biggest impact after the Hawks game because there isn’t a lot of room between CenturyLink Field and where I-90 drivers will be pushed into the express lanes.
Johnson says you might want to hang out after the game.
“Do you really have to leave right after the game?” Johnson asked.
The problem with that: 4th Avenue northbound will close two hours after the game ends. The City of Seattle is tearing down the Yesler Way Bridge. The roadway will be closed all weekend for the work, except for a small window before, during, and after the game.
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