Chokepoint: Pierce County finally going to get its HOV lanes

A multi-million dollar plan is underway to improve a major chokepoint on I-5 through Tacoma.

Listener Ed Marceau asked, “What are they building by the Tacoma Dome and when are they going to be done?”

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The bushes and trees along the whole hillside are being removed on the east side of I-5. Crews are making enough room to add lanes to the freeway so that HOV lanes can be extended.

“They’re seeing a very large wall being built and they’re seeing a lot of cranes,” explained Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson Claudia Bingham Baker. “And all of that is to prepare the roadway surface so that we can realign traffic to create construction zones through the area to build that new facility.”

WSDOT says six funded projects are being designed and constructed in Tacoma from the Nalley Valley to the King County line through 2020.

Bingham Baker said crews are also preparing another spot just north for the new bridge over the Puyallup River and continue the HOV expansion. Drivers will have to deal with the construction for at least another three years.

“What it means is that drivers are going to see narrowed lanes, they’re going to see reduced reduced shoulders, they’re going to see main highway lines moving, being realigned from one part of the freeway to another,” Bingham Baker said. “During night hours, we’re going to have ramps closed and lane closures.”

Drivers will end up with four general purpose lanes and an HOV lane through Pierce County.

“The HOV lanes are part of a much larger system that WSDOT is building to put HOV lanes on SR 16 and I-5 through Pierce County. We already have an extensive HOV system through King and Snohomish counties and now it is Pierce County’s turn,” Bingham Baker said.

WSDOT says it has built and opened about 235 HOV lane miles in its core HOV system, most of which are located north of the King/Pierce County line.