Night I-5 repair begins Monday from Everett to Marysville

EVERETT — Traffic on I-5 is about to become a royal pain in the asphalt.

On Monday the state Department of Transportation will begin work on a nearly year-long project to replace the aging bridge expansion joints over the Steamboat, Union and Ebey Sloughs.

According to the department, more than 60,000 vehicles use that stretch of I-5 in both directions each day.

A total of 41 joints will be replaced in the $6.8 million project. The contract was awarded to PCL Civil Constructors of Bellevue.

Expansion joints allow the concrete sections of a bridge to expand and contract in response to changes in temperature and traffic loads. If a joint is damaged or fails, it can cause a bridge to bend, crack or even collapse.

The bridge expansion joints are up to 30 years old. Most of the joints have cracked and their seals are broken. Some bolts are missing. Water also can leak onto the bridge girders, causing them to corrode.

Work will be conducted overnight through the end of the year, and then on eight weekends in the first part of 2016, but department officials are asking drivers to start thinking ahead.

“It’s a very difficult area but that’s why we want drivers to start thinking now,” said department spokeswoman Kris Olsen.

“Especially for those weekends. It’s a couple months off but they’ll be here before you know it,” she said.

There are no surface street crossings over the waterways. Only Highways 529 and 9 are viable alternatives for north-south through traffic.

Olsen said the department plans to work to minimize disruptions as much as possible. It has been coordinating with the Tulalip Tribes’ 116th Street NE overpass and with Everett’s Broadway Bridge replacement project.

“Our schedules should coincide nicely, so that when that reopens we’ll be gearing up for those weekend closures,” Olsen said.

The city of Everett began dismantling the Broadway Bridge in February. The city is currently working toward a tentative completion date in February or March, depending on the weather and other scheduling issues, said city engineer Ryan Sass.

So far, the detours around the Broadway Bridge have done their job and a midtown traffic nightmare has not materialized, he said.

“It’s been a nonissue, which is really what we wanted,” Sass said.

Sass said that there probably will be some additional traffic passing through on Broadway due to the work on I-5, but he doesn’t expect too many problems.

“They’ve coordinated well with us,” Sass said of the transportation department.

Work is scheduled to start on the I-5 Union Slough bridges next week. It will last through December, with lane closures starting as early as 7 p.m. on the southbound side or 8 p.m. on the northbound side.

All lanes are scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. each morning.

“We will not shut down the entire thing. There will always be at least one lane open in the overnight hours,” Olsen said.

In January, the work will shift to the Steamboat and Union Slough bridges, and will take place around the clock on the weekends. The joints in those bridges are larger and require more work to remove and replace.

The contractor is scheduled to complete the job in eight weekends of work, although those dates have not been identified yet, Olsen said.

The crews won’t work on holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, she added.

Lane closures are only scheduled for one direction each weekend.

Updates to the project will be posted on the transportation department’s project page: wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5/unionsteamboatebeybridgerpr.

Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.