Old span makes way for new
Published 11:08 pm Wednesday, September 12, 2007
EVERETT — Over just a few short days, state crews pulverized an old overpass that carried southbound I-5 traffic over the Broadway tunnel.
In its place, a wider span is under construction as part of a $263 million project that is adding six miles of car pool lanes to the freeway.
Drivers were able to catch only glimpses of demolition equipment as the old structure was broken apart.
“Hopefully they were not seeing much. We don’t want people distracted by equipment, but they were driving right next to a bridge being demolished,” state Department of Transportation spokesman Ryan Bianchi said.
Crews didn’t have to be delicate or close the freeway to traffic. All of the concrete and rebar rubble — 1,150 cubic yards — crashed down onto the old Broadway tunnel trench.
Crews plan to clean it all up and pave the tunnel path for bus traffic between Broadway and the northbound and southbound lanes on I-5.
Drivers on southbound I-5 were recently shifted off the old bridge, forced into a leftward jog near 41st Street SE.
The new bridge carrying I-5 southbound mainline traffic will be more than twice as wide — growing from 42 feet to 92 feet.
With the addition of the car pool lane, the new bridge will have room for four lanes of traffic instead of three, and have 10-foot-wide shoulders on each side.
The bridge includes 13 concrete girders measuring 170 feet long. It is designed to last 75 years, Bianchi said.
The overall project’s car pool lanes are slated to be completed by the end of next summer. By then, crews will have widened 18 bridges and built or replaced five others.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
