LYNNWOOD – The ramp to nowhere soon will have a destination.
Construction on the partially built ramp over I-5 at 164th Street SW starts again this week.
That means occasional nighttime lane closures and eventually several full closures on southbound I-5.
When finished at the end of the year, the $18.4 million direct-access ramp will allow buses and carpools to exit and enter I-5 directly from the Ash Way park-and-ride lot.
A similar ramp opened just to the south on the interstate at the Lynnwood Transit Center in November.
And while the Lynnwood ramp finished ahead of schedule and under budget, Ash Way has not.
Work on the ramps – one in the middle of the freeway and the other climbing out of the park-and-ride lot – finished more than two months ago.
But an overpass spanning I-5’s southbound lanes and connecting the two ramps is conspicuously missing.
The problem started almost a year ago when the state Department of Transportation tried to use laser sensors to alert overheight trucks to exit the freeway so bridge work could take place.
The effort failed.
For decades, the state just had put up signs warning high-clearance vehicles to exit to avoiding hitting bridges under construction.
But at Ash Way the state decided to use new technology to warn taller trucks to exit, hoping the laser sensors and flashing signs would help the state avoid having the occasional truck plow into the low-slung scaffolding needed to support an under-construction bridge.
The problem was all large vehicles needed to be in the far right lane to trigger the sensors, meaning some trucks were missed and not alerted to exit.
In the end, a test of the new system failed.
“Only 60 percent of the over-height trucks (paid attention) to the sign and exited the freeway,” said Jamie Holter, a state transportation department spokeswoman. “We needed it to be zero percent or they would have hit the bridge.”
The problem forced the state to put out a new request for bids. A new offer was accepted, and bridge construction begins anew this week, Holter said.
When it opens, the ramp will be a year late and $3.2 million over the original cost. But thanks to an emergency reserve, the project will stay within budget.
“We’re glad we’re moving it forward,” said Lee Somerstein, a spokesman for Sound Transit, whose tax revenues are paying for the ramp.
When paired with the ramp at Lynnwood, commuters could shave up to 12 minutes from their roundtrip bus commute to Seattle.
“At first blush that doesn’t sound like much, but those 10 minutes add up to 50 minutes per week,” Somerstein said.
Holter said night lane closures could happen at any time, with full freeway closures at the end of February or early March to put scaffolding in place.
The state will avoid the high- vehicle clearance problem by building the bridge at 18 feet, 6 inches, then jacking it down to 16 feet, 6 inches once the bridge is finished.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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