This story was originally posted to MyNorthwest.com
We survived the “Month of Hell,” and we told you what to expect on I-5 over the next few years. But the construction cones aren’t going anywhere. Construction season is close to year-round these days.
It wasn’t that long ago when construction had a season. It started around April and lasted through October. It followed the better weather. When the rain arrived, the work stopped.
It’s just not that way anymore. There are so many projects being done around the state that contractors can’t really take a lot of time off.
Get ready for winter construction
“We have a lot of work to do, and really we’re going to start seeing more work happening during the winter,” Tom Pearce, spokesperson for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), told KIRO Newsradio.
You can dig and move dirt. You can clear out vegetation. It’s really only the paving and striping that require good weather. You can lay concrete in cold weather, as long as it’s not consistently below 40 degrees.
So don’t expect the traffic cones to go away, especially on I-405, where WSDOT is racing to get the widening between Bellevue and Renton finished next year.
Southbound I-405 will be closed this weekend for that project. Southbound 405 will be closed between Sunset and SR 169 from Friday night to early Monday morning.
There will also be some closures on I-5 south of Seattle later this fall.
“We’re also going to have a full closure on southbound I-5 in Kent for a weekend, the last weekend of September,” Pearce said. “That’s going to be a bunch of panel replacement.”
And don’t forget there are going to be several southbound I-5 weekend closures across the Ship Canal Bridge through the fall. We are waiting to get confirmation on the schedule.
Construction is now a year-long companion on the roads.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.