EVERETT – What to do? What to do?
The new 41st Street SE overpass is scheduled to open on Presidents Day.
It looks scary and screwy.
It’s sort of an interchange, only it’s not. All the ramps come in at angles. And there are six of them. There’s only one traffic light, and even that’s twisted sideways.
Don’t worry, say state transportation officials. Just follow the signs and you’ll be OK.
Freeways usually have signals at each exit or entry ramp.
This new six-lane overpass, three lanes wider than the old one, is called a “single-point urban interchange.”
That’s a fancy way of saying there will be 12 traffic signals in the middle of the overpass to direct all traffic getting on or coming off I-5, or driving through 41st Street.
| Visit the state DOT’s Web site to view an animation of how the interchange will work. |
“We’re hoping that, in the end, it’s going to be pretty self- explanatory,” said Everett police officer Aaron Snell, who was part of a tour of the new overpass Wednesday.
Everett Police will have extra officers on hand to make sure drivers learn how to use the new overpass when it opens Feb. 19.
The design is intended to move traffic quicker through the interchange on the overpass because the overpass itself is the interchange.
All the ramps come together in angles at one point, said Mike Cotten, project director for the state Department of Transportation’s Everett I-5 widening project.
Once the overpass opens, the two things drivers need to remember are to stay in their lane and follow the traffic signs, Cotten said.
The signal will tell them when to go. All movements are either straight ahead or left turns.
Emergency crews toured the overpass Wednesday and will continue to familiarize themselves with the new interchange through next week.
The nice looping curves, the extra lanes, just the sheer gigantic size of the overpass will make it a breeze to drive the biggest fire truck through, said Everett Fire Department Battalion Chief David Moses.
“There’s no problem for us,” Moses said. “We’re just tying to familiarize our crews with every major new structure that comes up in a city.”
State Patrol troopers are doing the same because the interchange is one of their main turnaround points.
Only one new freeway ramp will open with the overpass. That’s the ramp from 41st Street to northbound I-5. The other three ramps are scheduled to open one at a time over the next four months.
Work on the $43 million project has been going on since April.
“I’m delighted that we’re getting this finished so fast,” Everett City Councilman Bob Overstreet said. It’s a key connection to the Lowell neighborhood, and to the city’s plans for developing the riverfront, he said.
The existing northbound onramp to I-5 is set to close Feb. 16-18, and it won’t reopen until the interchange opens.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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