Closure at 145th Street near I-5 in Shoreline to continue into 2025 due to construction

The closure of N 145th Street between 1st Avenue NE and Interstate 5 (I-5) in Shoreline has been extended to early 2025, the city announced on its Facebook and Instagram pages Friday.

“Although we had hoped to reopen the road this fall, crews need additional time to relocate underground utilities,” the social media posts state.

A short update on the city’s website addresses the utilities and also adds “unforeseen existing conditions” have extended the closure.

The city cited “early 2025” as when the closure would end, but it also acknowledged “an exact closure duration has not been determined” and it will “provide a specific opening date when it is available.”

Existing vehicle detours will remain in place, the city confirmed. In addition, the pedestrian path will be shifted to provide better access through the work zone via a combination of N 145th and NE 147th Streets.

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Shoreline’s 145th Street is a major access point for I-5 drivers, both on and off the freeway. One lane in each direction will remain open on the overpass to allow access to the freeway.

“The overpass will be reduced to one lane, but it’s still accessible for access to I-5,” the city of Shoreline’s Communications Program Manager Eric Bratton said to KIRO Newsradio earlier this year.

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Primary detour routes for this area when heading east and west are N 155th and N 130th Streets, the city explains on its website.

“There are no impacts to traffic travelling north and south on Meridian Avenue N, 1st Avenue, 5th Avenue or 15th Avenue NE. However, northbound travelers on 1st Avenue are restricted from turning left to go west on Northeast 155th Street,” the city notes.

More on the Shoreline construction at 145th Street

That area of Shoreline is attempting to find meaningful ways to handle the upcoming growth created by the new light rail station that opened last month.

“We’re going to be putting in left turn lanes, and we’re gonna be widening the roads,” Bratton said earlier this year. “We will have sidewalks that are accessible for everybody to use. There’s a lot that needs to be done to improve 145th.”

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The city will also be removing all the signals on either end of the overpass, replacing them with two, two-lane roundabouts.

“Roundabouts turned out to be the best way of making sure we had an efficient flow of traffic through the region otherwise it would just get bogged down,” Bratton said. “We’re going to be putting roundabouts at either end which will help with that traffic flow much better. You’re not going to have to cut across traffic.”

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The city adds on its website that once the project is completed, “improvements will alleviate traffic congestion and enhance transportation mobility, reliability, and safety for all users.”

While this closure will continue to be a major inconvenience for area drivers, it also won’t be the end of the work. The widening of 145th Street west of I-5 will continue through, at least, the fall of 2025.

Contributing: Chris Sullivan, KIRO Newsradio

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.