I-5 lane closures expected to cause weekend traffic delays in Seattle

Traffic will be extra heavy on I-5 northbound through Seattle this weekend.

All but one of the collector-distributor lanes that merge from I-90 to I-5 and run parallel to the main line, will be closed down to repair old expansion joints.

“They’re 50 years old, about as old as the Space Needle,” says Bart Treece, with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “They’re at risk for failing, and when they fail they pop up pins that hold them into the concrete and they can wreck somebody’s tires and we don’t want that to happen.”

Treece says the closures begin Friday at 10 p.m. and all lanes should reopen by 5 a.m. Monday morning.

There are four more of these weekend closures on the horizon.

“It’s the fifth of nine weekend closures to replace two dozen warn and aging bridge expansion joints,” says Treece. “These are parts of the roadways that help these bridge portions expand and contract to the weather.”