End of I-5 work in Everett is in sight

EVERETT — The last of 251 overpass girders is set to be dropped into place on I-5 in Everett tonight, marking one of the last steps before a new, wider freeway opens.

“It’s a milestone,” said Mike Cotten, project director for the state Department of Transportation’s Everett I-5 widening project. “We’re now 90 percent complete. The light is at the end of the tunnel, and we can see it.”

With the last girder installed, the state will have built five new spans and widened 18 others between Highway 526 and the Snohomish River.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The girders, prefabricated concrete or steel spans that support highway bridges, together weigh about 24 million pounds. That’s about as heavy as 108 Boeing 787-3 airplanes.

Some girders hold up the Broadway flyover ramp, perhaps the signature element in the $263 million I-5 widening project, Cotten said. Others were used for less glamorous projects, including widening the trestlelike spans that carry I-5 through north Everett.

When finished, perhaps in March, the I-5 widening project will extend the carpool lanes that now end at the Boeing Freeway north to the Snohomish River. New merging lanes will open between 41st Street SE and U.S. 2.

The project also includes a new 41st Street SE overpass, a left-hand carpool exit from both directions of I-5 to Broadway and much-improved ramps from I-5 to U.S. 2.

The $263 million contract, paid for by a 2003 5-cent-a- gallon gas tax increase, is the third most expensive ever signed by the transportation department, behind only the new Tacoma Narrows bridge and the Hood Canal bridge.

The state had hoped to finish by the end of the year, but weather problems and equipment supply shortages have caused the finish date to slip to March or beyond.

Plans for at least opening the northbound carpool lane by the end of the year also were pushed back.

Still, drivers frustrated by two years of shifting lanes, rough roads and lane closures may be appeased by knowing that the work originally was going to take three years and not start until 2009. Thanks to a sped-up construction schedule, construction started in Sept. 2005.

Even though the end is near, work hasn’t slowed at all on site, with contractors rushing to get work done every night when the rain lets up.

The last six girders were expected to bolted into place Thursday night and tonight. They are part of a new southbound I-5 overpass over the old left-hand exit to Broadway, said Patty Michaud, a Transportation spokeswoman.

“The last girder means you’re coming up on the end of everything,” said Dave Doles, project manager for contractor Atkinson-CH2M Hill. “The last concrete pour, the last ton of asphalt, the last piece of barrier, the last fence post and the last pavement stripe. Then we’re out of there.”

Still, he cautioned drivers not to get too excited.

“We’re still not done yet,” Doles said. “We’ve still got two months of hard pushing left to do.”

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

By the numbers

5: New overpasses

18: Widened spans

251: Number of bridge girders

24 million: Weight of the girders in pounds

153 million: Amount of rainwater, in gallons, that falls onto I-5 in the project area each year

61,000: Cubic yards of concrete poured by crews

80,000: Tons of asphalt laid down

293,068: Tons of soil, rocks and other material for roadway embankments imported and placed

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

Snohomish County prosecutor Kara Van Slyck delivers closing statement during the trial of Christian Sayre at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Thursday, May 8, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Jury deliberations begin in the fourth trial of former Everett bar owner

Jury members deliberated for about 2 hours before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Millie Judge sent them home until Monday.

Christian Sayre sits in the courtroom before the start of jury selection on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Christian Sayre timeline

FEBRUARY 2020 A woman reports a sexual assault by Sayre. Her sexual… Continue reading

Marysville
Marysville talks middle housing at open house

City planning staff say they want a ‘soft landing’ to limit the impacts of new state housing laws. But they don’t expect their approach to slow development.

Smoke from the Bolt Creek fire silhouettes a mountain ridge and trees just outside of Index on Sept. 12, 2022. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County will host two wildfire-preparedness meetings in May

Meetings will allow community members to learn wildfire mitigation strategies and connect with a variety of local and state agencies.

A speed limiter device, like this one, will be required for repeat speeding offenders under a Washington law signed on May 12, 2025. The law doesn’t take effect until 2029. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
Washington to rein in fast drivers with speed limiters

A new law set to take effect in 2029 will require repeat speeding offenders to install the devices in their vehicles.

Commuters from Whidbey Island disembark their vehicles from the ferry Tokitae on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 in Mukilteo, Wa.  (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Bids for five new hybrid ferries come in high

It’s raising doubts about the state’s plans to construct up to five new hybrid-electric vessels with the $1.3 billion lawmakers have set aside.

City of Everett Engineer Tom Hood, left, and City of Everett Engineer and Project Manager Dan Enrico, right, talks about the current Edgewater Bridge demolition on Friday, May 9, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How do you get rid of a bridge? Everett engineers can explain.

Workers began dismantling the old Edgewater Bridge on May 2. The process could take one to two months, city engineers said.

Christian Sayre walks out of the courtroom in handcuffs after being found guilty on two counts of indecent liberties at the end of his trial at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Former bar owner convicted on two of three counts of sexual abuse

A jury deliberated for about 8 hours before returning guilty verdicts on two charges of indecent liberties Monday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.