SEATTLE — Interstate 5 is closing up to three northbound lanes for the weekend. The viaduct is closing in one direction. Plus Alaskan Way is being moved a couple of lanes over.
It's all likely to create a bumper-to-bumper mess. State Department of Transportation officials say they picked this weekend because there are no major sporting events. Moreover they wanted to beat the rainy season.
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Still it isn't going to be pretty for anyone trying to get around without these roadways open.
It isn't exactly 'Via-Doom' but the state's plans for a couple of major highways around Seattle may feel like it at times this weekend.
"No, what?" asked Kiyomi Errett. "Are they really?"
It was news to Errett, a Queen Anne resident. And she didn't take it very well.
"Oh, man," she said. "That's going to be a nightmare. I don't if the city... do they have a backup plan for traffic?"
Tom Pearce is a DOT spokesman for the I-5 project.
"On northbound I-5 from roughly Martin Luther King Jr. Way to Olive Way," said Pearce, "we're going to reduce northbound I-5 to two lanes."
And there are a couple of projects around the Alaskan Way Viaduct in advance of its permanent closure.
"First we're going to close southbound Alaskan Way Viaduct," said Pearce. "On Alaskan Way itself, we are going to have a closure Saturday night into Sunday morning which is going to allow people to stripe Alaskan Way. And we can move part of it from out beneath the viaduct."
A map shows I-5 between Martin Luther King Junior Way South and Olive Way will be reduced to two lanes beginning at 8 o'clock Friday night. That's the last of the Revive I-5 closures. And it will last until Monday morning at 5.
Then at 9 o'clock Friday night, the southbound lanes of Alaskan Way Viaduct will shut down until 5 a.m. Monday. Alaskan Way itself will be closed Saturday night into Sunday morning to move the lanes west.
It's enough to make Nadir Kianersi stay in his Queen Anne home.
"I'm not going anywhere this weekend," he said, laughing.
But some people may actually want to get out.
"Folks who want to go to the waterfront, it's going to be open," said Pearce. "They're going to be able to get there. They're going to be able to get to the ferry. Again they need to plan ahead. Think about where they're going to park."
And then there's Zack McKinley. He and his Lynnwood family are headed out of town.
"Oh, we're going to Eastern Washington," he said, laughing heartily. "So that's perfect. We're out of here."
Anyone who has lived in Seattle for at least 10 years, probably remembers when all one did underneath the viaduct was park. That is what will be again once this work is done. In fact, some 250 parking spaces are being planned.
But of course, the viaduct still has to come down. But that won't happen until after the holidays.
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