First I-5 carpool lane in Everett takes drivers

Published 10:54 pm Thursday, February 14, 2008

EVERETT — The first section of a new, wider I-5 opened Thursday, a glimpse of the much improved freeway that’s coming in just weeks.

State workers opened two miles of wider freeway on southbound I-5 from near the Lowell neighborhood to Highway 526, the Boeing Freeway.

By the end of April, state officials expect to open five miles of new carpool lane from the Snohomish River to the Boeing Freeway in both directions of I-5, significantly improving the twice-daily crawl through downtown Everett.

“It’ll be smoother than a snake’s navel,” said Dave Doles, project manager for contractor Atkinson-CH2M Hill.

His company has worked for two years to widen the freeway, adding the carpool lanes, but also new merging lanes between U.S. 2 and 41st Street and several new bridges along the way, including the new flyover ramp from northbound I-5 to Broadway and an entire new 41st Street overpass.

The freeway expansion is expected to push the traffic chokepoints north to Marysville and to the east end of the U.S. 2 trestle, areas where state transportation officials would like to make improvements but lack money, said Mike Cotten, project director for the state Department of Transportation’s Everett I-5 widening project.

But at least the backups will start a little farther out, he said.

“Once all the (new) lanes open, I think (drivers) will see a significant improvement on the traffic flow,” Cotten said.

The two miles of wider freeway that opened Thursday are in their final configuration, so there will be no more lane shifts, Doles said. The concrete barrier that has hugged the edge of the road is gone as well.

Drivers in the area also face one more temporary change in traffic flow.

State workers on Thursday changed the onramp from Broadway to southbound I-5. Instead of having their own lane to merge on, drivers now have to temporarily merge directly into traffic. The change is needed so workers can rebuild the freeway’s right shoulder.

Most of the work needed to open the new carpool lane on northbound I-5 is already done, Cotten said. However, the state is keeping it closed until the end of April so that emergency repairs can be made to the southbound bridge over Pacific Avenue, he said.

A semi hauling an excavator struck and severely damaged a girder in the bridge in December 2006. Repairs to that girder start in early March. The new northbound carpool lane must remain closed because it’s the only safe way for construction workers to safely get into the median and access the work site, Cotten said.

Repairing the bridge is going to require that workers drop a concrete barrier in the middle of southbound I-5, forcing traffic to split and drive around it.

Once those repairs are finished at the end of April, the state expects to open the rest of the new southbound carpool lane, a new southbound merging lane from U.S. 2 to 41st Street and the new northbound carpool lane from the Boeing Freeway to the Snohomish River.

Sections of the new northbound carpool lane can’t be opened early because it would be unsafe to have traffic merge back into a narrower highway near the Pacific Avenue bridge repair area, Cotten said.

The new 41st Street ramp to southbound I-5 also is expected to open when the repairs to the Pacific Avenue bridge finish, Cotten said.

After that, all that will be left to finish and open is the carpool-only onramps and offramps from I-5 to Broadway. Those two ramps are expected to open in May, Cotten said.

Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.