If your weekend plans include driving around the Sound, you might want to pack your patience — three major highways in the area will be either fully or partially closed starting Friday night.
On Interstate 90, all eastbound lanes between I-5 in Seattle and Island Crest Way on Mercer Island will close starting Friday at 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday.
A Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson said the closure is for routine maintenance on the I-90 tunnel, including the inspection of safety systems and checking and replacing tunnel lights.
Another closure will be on northbound I-5 in Everett. WSDOT will reduce traffic to one lane between 41st Street and the Snohomish River Bridge.
Crews will be replacing about 40 concrete panels that were cut late last year when a contractor planned to do the replacement work but was unable to finish due to weather. Just last week, one of those panels popped up, forcing WSDOT to make an emergency closure that caused major traffic backups.
The work will be done between 10 p.m. on Friday and 5 a.m. on Monday.
On Saturday afternoon, WSDOT announced that it was closing two on-ramps to I-5 due to people creating unsafe conditions by driving the wrong way on off-ramps.
Due to people driving the wrong way on off-ramps creating unsafe conditions, particularly as night falls working with @wastatepatrol we've implemented additional ramp closures for the time being:
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) January 21, 2023
🚫NB SR 527 to NB I-5 on-ramp at El Capitan
🚫SB 526/527 to NB I-5 Curle on-ramp https://t.co/yNg8QWOzIA pic.twitter.com/invSkkdSwb
Arguably the biggest closure will be the full closure of State Route 520 between Montlake and 92nd Avenue Northeast in Clyde Hill. Crews will be setting girders over the highway for the Montlake lid and pouring concrete on the eastbound lanes.
The closure will be from 11 p.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday.
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