I-5 paving waiting for dry days

The race against the weather continues.

A break from the rain Friday night allowed the state to pave a third lane of southbound I-5 in Everett, but two lanes are still scraped raw.

Pavement can’t be installed when it is raining or if temperatures drop below 45 degrees. State workers have been forced to take advantage of nights without rain.

“We’re still concerned that we’re not done,” said Dave Doles, project manager for contractor Atkinson-CH2M Hill. “Until we’re done, we’re fighting the weather, not only precipitation, but also temperatures. It remains a close call.”

Paving was supposed to finish in mid-September, but rain and equipment problems have led to delays. The state is paving three miles of I-5 from just south of 41st Street SE to the Boeing Freeway as part of its ongoing effort to widen I-5 in Everett.

Workers used three paving machines and extended lane closures to make significant progress on Friday night, but at the expense of nighttime commuters, said Pat McCormick DOT’s chief engineer for the I-5 widening project in Everett.

McCormick said the longer-than-usual working hours caused four-mile backups to form Friday night and Saturday morning.

“Those are big backups,” McCormick said. “(Nighttime commuters) have carried the burden of most of this job.”

He said he won’t extend nighttime lane closures again unless he has no other choice. He also said cooling nighttime temperatures may make nighttime work no longer an option. Overnight temperatures have been getting closer to 45 degrees. That’s too cold for new pavement to properly bond with the subsurface roadway.

Doles said crews hoped to accomplish more paving Monday night and that Wednesday and Saturday nights also look promising. Doles estimated crews have about three nights of work left.

McCormick urged drivers to take alternate routes at night until the work is done, at least when there’s no rain.

“If it’s dry out there, then we’re going to be out there paving,” he said.

Options include Highway 529, Highway 99 and Highway 9. Lane closures usually start at 9:30 p.m. with all but one lane normally closed by 11 p.m. All lanes typically open in time for the morning commute.

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

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