EVERETT — A rainy forecast for this weekend has forced lane closures on I-5 to be postponed a week.
The state Department of Transportation has been working on replacing bridge expansion joints over Union, Steamboat and Ebey sloughs.
That work is now entering its final phases, which are potentially the most disruptive.
Eight weekends of work are needed to finish the job, and that will involve closing multiple lanes of I-5. “It’s pretty much eight consecutive weekends, but there is no work we’re going to do on April 8, 9 10 and 11,” said Justin Fujioka, a transportation department spokesman.
That weekend is the expected peak of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, when traffic is expected to be heaviest on the weekend.
The actual work — replacing old and corroded joints that allow the bridges to expand and contract with changes in the weather — can be done in the rain, Fujioka said.
“The problem is, every time we do this work we need to restripe the highway,” he said.
Restriping can only be done in dry conditions, and the crew has to restripe first to reduce the traffic flow to two narrower lanes through the work zone, then again to restore full use of the highway in time for the Monday morning commute.
“It’s just unfortunate timing with the rain,” he said.
The crews will be working on the southbound lanes on the four weekends in March, then will shift to the northbound lanes until May 2.
The speed limit through the work zone is 40 mph.
There will still likely be some smaller cleanup and punch-list-type of tasks to do after that, but that is the expected completion date of the major work, Fujioka said.
Unless it rains on the weekend again. In which case, work may continue to get postponed.
“But we don’t want to do any work in the summer time when the traffic volumes are much higher,” Fujioka said.
For information on the project and related closures can be found on the department’s website at http://1.usa.gov/21nU45W.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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