EVERETT — The long-awaited, monthslong closures on Highway 529 between Everett and Marysville will be delayed at least a week due to weather.
The road was slated to be fully closed overnight Saturday. Now, June 8 is being circled as the date, though that is still subject to change, too.
“We’ll try again, same kind of schedule,” said Tom Pearce, a state Department of Transportation spokesperson.
The $13.5 million project will update the Snohomish River Bridge and the Steamboat Slough Bridge. The overnight closure allows crews to install temporary crossovers to divert traffic from the northbound Snohomish River Bridge, which will be closed. For four months, Highway 529 between Everett and Marysville will be constricted to one lane of traffic each way.
The East Marine View Drive on-ramp to Highway 529 will also be closed during the four-month project.
Some work on the bridges has already begun, Pearce said. Contractors are rigging the bridge and getting it ready to be painted.
Highway 529 provides an alternative to I-5, especially during peak traffic hours. Bottlenecked traffic is a daily headache between Marysville and Everett. Lately, a $123 million project to add a high-occupancy vehicle lane and two new ramps has tightened traffic on I-5.
Recently, a police shooting shut down I-5 traffic for hours, and served as a reminder how fragile local arterial routes are.
“People should plan ahead,” Pearce said. “And if you’re coming south into Everett, it probably would be better off to stay on I-5 than to take 529 across, because we expect there will be backups on 529 where it narrows from two lanes to one.”
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
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