Successful construction season ends on I-90

Interstate 90 (I-90) drivers.  All you have to worry about now is snow, ice and other drivers because the construction on the freeway east of the mountains is finished for the year.

As I was driving home from Spokane on Sunday, I noticed the delay signs for the Vantage Bridge construction project were turned off, and as I made my way down to the Columbia River, I realized both lanes were open all the way.  This signaled the end of the major construction on I-90 for the year.

The Vantage Bridge is back to two lanes in both directions after several months of miles-long backups and huge delays.

The work is 25% complete after the first construction season, a little bit ahead of schedule, and it was a successful season. “About 60 concrete panels done already, and a catwalk complete,” the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Summer Derrey said. That catwalk runs under the bridge for about a mile. It serves as a work platform for the contractor.

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But it was rough first year for drivers. “Was the worst was eastbound on Fridays and back westbound on Sundays,” Derrey said.  “There are alternate routes across the state of Washington, which we highly recommended. I do not recommend taking the old Vantage Highway. It did not save anyone time doing that.”

Though I will say, I did save some time going that backdoor route one early morning.

The Vantage Bridge will be back down to one lane in each direction in March for the second season of construction. Work isn’t expected to wrap up until 2028.

Year 15 of construction from Snoqualmie Pass east to Cle Elum is now finished.

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It was a very productive year for the I-90 widening project through Easton. It’s hard to see all the work that was done because it’s off the freeway, but Derrey said the contractor completed a bunch.  “Five bridge decks built, five creek beds installed,” she said.  “They did a total of 17 rock blasting missions.  10 were on the highway and caused closures.  Seven were off. And so that’s making way for the added lanes, the eastbound lanes, specifically.”

The state is adding a lane in each direction on that stretch of I-90. To do that, workers had to move a lot of dirt.

“400,000 cubic yards of debris was removed, and then for that embankment that was built up over half a million cubic yards of embankment was built up for the eastbound lanes,” Derrey said.  That’s several hundred dump trucks loads for each of those projects.

Work in this section will last a few more seasons. It’s not expected to wrap up until late in 2028.

Then it’s time for Phase 4 of this work, where WSDOT will widen I-90 just east of the wildlife over-crossing.

Chris Sullivan covers transportation for KIRO Newsradio. Check out more of Chris’ Chokepoints.

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