Seattle's I-5 closures are just beginning
The big picture: The current work — which involves lane reductions and weekend closures through Aug. 18 — is just a fraction of what Seattle drivers will experience over the next two years as the freeway undergoes a major overhaul.
Zoom in: Workers are currently repairing part of the deck on the Ship Canal Bridge, the part of I-5 that stretches from downtown Seattle to Northeast 45th Street near the University of Washington.
Crews have narrowed the northbound stretch of the freeway to two lanes between State Route 520 and 45th Street, which will also allow workers to partially repair expansion joints and replace drain inlets.
The four-week job will conclude with a weekend closure of northbound I-5 from Aug. 15 to Aug. 18 — something Seattle drivers also experienced when the work began this month.
Yes, but: This type of work on I-5 will also go on for several months next year, except for during a break for the FIFA World Cup in Seattle in June and July.
There also will be monthslong construction in 2027, as workers tackle other parts of the ailing bridge.
The intrigue: The work this year was originally supposed to last longer. But budget pressures caused state officials to temporarily cancel the construction, then reschedule it in a scaled-back form.
Transportation officials say they hope commuters use this year's shorter construction period to test different routes to work, or experiment with different types of transit — anything that could help them prepare for the bigger closures in 2026 and 2027.
What they're saying: Although some drivers get frustrated with prolonged lane closures during busy summer travel months, crews often need long stretches of dry weather to do their work, WSDOT spokesperson RB McKeon told Axios.
Long-term lane closures that affect weekday commutes are also unavoidable when dealing with this scale of repair, she said.
"If we only worked at night and weekends, it would take us a decade to do what we're going to do in three seasons," McKeon said.
The fine print: To help alleviate traffic, the I-5 express lanes will be open 24/7 in the direction affected by each closure.
That means those lanes won't be available at the usual times to commuters traveling in the opposite direction.
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