Month of hell coming for I-5 in Seattle

I have been warning you about this for months, and now the “Month of Hell” is upon us. A month of lane closures on northbound I-5 in Seattle that have the potential to grind our region to a halt.

I cannot emphasize enough just how disruptive this is going to be. Seattle’s biggest artery will be limited for 32 days, and this will not just impact the northbound direction.

All lanes of northbound I-5 will be closed from Friday night until Monday. The closure starts at I-90 and runs through 45th in the U-District. When the freeway reopens on Monday, only two right lanes will be open.

It will stay in that configuration, half-capacity, until Friday, August 15, when the entire northbound freeway will be shut down for another full weekend. All lanes will reopen on Monday, August 18.

The time has come to Revive I-5. NB I-5 in Seattle between I-90 & NE 45th St will CLOSE starting 11:59 pm on Friday, July 18, through 5 am Monday, July 21.⚠️

The express lanes will be NB ALL WEEKEND & beyond. WB I-90 exit to NB I-5 will close.
More info: https://t.co/9UJ8fsyQKi pic.twitter.com/Dvnrgi3VtH

— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) July 16, 2025

“There’s no good time to do this sort of work, but it has to be done,” Spokesperson for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Tom Pearce said.

This is the first part of replacing the concrete on the Ship Canal Bridge, as Revive I-5 starts concentrating on the section from Mercer Street to Northgate.

“We’re going to repave up to about 20% of those two left lanes and do bridge deck repairs during our month-long lane reduction,” Pearce said.

Why not just go with the lane closures? Why shut the freeway down on either end of the work?

“We need a weekend closure to set it up, and then we’re going to need another weekend closure at the end to take down the work zone that our contractor is going to put in place,” Pearce explained.

This is going to create massive backups on northbound I-5 for the next month, even with the express lanes helping out.

“Once we start into the full closure on July 18, the express lanes are going to remain northbound throughout, until mid-August,” Pearce said.  “That’s going to help get people through.”

Seattle I-5 closures will impact both northbound and southbound

But that comes with its own complications. Keeping the I-5 express lanes open in the northbound direction will grind southbound I-5 to a halt, especially in the morning.

We’ve seen what happens when those lanes aren’t open for the morning commute. I’m expecting backups to Lynnwood. The ripple effect of this will extend to both lake bridges and most neighborhood streets around I-5. It will likely impact I-405 as well.

“We really want people to consider alternatives, like transit,” Pearce said.  “Light rail is a great way to get around. Consider carpooling. Think about if you can shift your schedule. Some people have some flexibility. Maybe they can go in at six in the morning. Maybe they don’t have to go in until 10 in the morning.”

And just think of the massive events in Seattle during these lane closures. Seafair. The Seahawks’ home preseason games. The Ichiro celebration weekend at T-Mobile. All will be impacted by this work.

Pearce said WSDOT did what it could to pick the least impactful time to do it.

“We work very closely with our partners to choose a time when it will have the least effect on traffic,” he said. “It’s still going to have a huge effect. But there are other weekends that it could be a whole lot worse.”

My best advice is to add an extra hour to your drive through Seattle for the next month.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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