Closures coming to Highway 99 as prep work for Seattle tunnel continues
Jan 14, 2016, 10:51 PM | Updated: May 7, 2016, 10:53 pm
Seattle drivers dodged “Carmageddon” last spring when the state postponed major construction work on Highway 99 into South Lake Union. But that work is now back on the schedule, and it’s set to start on Monday.
Seven weeks of around-the-clock lane closures begin on the busy highway, after the evening commute on Jan. 18.
These closures were supposed to happen last spring, but Dave Sowers with the Washington State Department of Transportation says they realized it was going to cause too much of a disruption.
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“The powers that be didn’t feel that at that time it wasn’t the ideal situation to do it,” Sowers said.
So they re-worked the plan, cut down on the closure time, and rescheduled it for winter.
“There are no competing games, there are less events at the Seattle Center … It just made sense.”
So what is Highway 99 going to look like during these closures? One lane in each direction. The inside lane is going away for about four-or-five weeks from the Aurora Bridge to Mercer Street. Only two lanes will be open 24 hours a day.
Sowers says they need to build four giant concrete supports for the overhead signs that will eventually give travel conditions in the Seattle tunnel.
The biggest impact of this closure will likely be on buses. Metro carries more than 30,000 passengers on that corridor every day.
During the second phase of this project, the bus-only lane near Comstock Street will close for about three weeks. Sower’s biggest concern is the merging of the buses with the rest of traffic. There will be some congestion that the department will be paying close attention to, he says.
Metro plans to have other buses on standby, if some buses get caught in congestion.
This is the last major closure on 99, north of the Battery Street tunnel, related to the new tunnel. All that will be left after that is to dig.
There is still an anticipated closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in March, if Bertha is allowed to continue tunneling.
