EVERETT — With the first of 65 nights of closures of the westbound U.S. 2 trestle planned for Thursday evening, drivers are advised to allow extra time for detours.
Or better yet, they might want to avoid coming into Ever
ett from that direction altogether.
The closures are needed to refurbish aging girders under the trestle, officials say.
The state Department of Transportation has several readerboards on U.S. 2 and other roads warning of the 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. closures, spokeswoman Meghan Pembroke said.
The westbound U.S. 2 trestle is nearly 40 years old, and the girders that support parts of it are corroding. The trestle is not in danger of collapsing, but crews need to remove cracking concrete on 844 girders and remove corrosion from their steel frames, officials said.
Workers then plan to reinforce the girders by applying carbon fiber mesh and new concrete over the exposed steel. This needs time to dry and cure without vibrations from traffic above, Pembroke said. Similar work was done to part of the trestle in 2007, but more remains.
The state plans to do the work on 65 nights between now and early fall, an average of one out of every two nights. This week’s closure will be one night only, while others could be three or four nights in a row, Sundays through Thursdays. The project is expected to cost about $8 million.
Detours to the south will follow Highway 96 and 132nd Street SE to I-5. Detours to the north will follow Highway 9 and Highway 528, which becomes Fourth Street in Marysville, to I-5.
All drivers headed to Everett from the east should allow an extra 15 to 35 minutes, depending on their route and destination, according to the DOT.
State officials have talked with those from public safety agencies and hospitals about emergency access.
“We are able, if it’s a life-threatening emergency, to get ambulances through the closure,” Pembroke said.
Hospital officials in Monroe, however, are concerned that people who live in Monroe or west of there will try to drive their sick or injured loved ones to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett without knowing the trestle is closed.
Many people try to take loved ones or friends to the hospital themselves rather than calling 911 for help, said Collette Reams, spokeswoman for Valley General Hospital in Monroe.
“Moms think they can do it faster,” she said.
The state has readerboards on westbound U.S. 2 at Highway 9 and another closer to the trestle announcing the closure, Pembroke said. Another board was added on U.S. 2 at Lewis Street toward the east end of Monroe. Others are located on Highway 204, descending the hill from Lake Stevens; on 20th Street SE, and on Highway 9.
Hospital officials aren’t convinced this is enough. They’d like to see one or two more signs on U.S. 2 at the west end of Monroe or between Monroe and Snohomish.
Reams wants people to know they may bring sick or injured people to Valley General rather than trying to take them to Everett.
“It’s all about people getting to the care they need no matter where it is,” Reams said.
Pembroke said the state is aware of the concerns and has responded by adding the sign in Monroe, but is working with limited resources and has to put signs where the most people will see them, she said.
“We’ll continue to monitor it and if it looks like we need to do something else, we will,” Pembroke said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
Learn more
For more information, go to the state Department of Transportation’s trestle project page at http://tinyurl.com/TrestleRehab.
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