CENTRAL WASHINGTON — This story was originally published by MyNorthwest.com.
Like daily $15 tolls and backups across the Ship Canal Bridge, the delays on I-90 across the Vantage Bridge are back. Better weather is back, and construction is impacting your drives.
Construction on the Vantage Bridge over the Columbia River started up again earlier this year, and contractors blocked one lane in each direction of I-90. It wasn’t a big deal until last weekend when the weather was nice, and a lot of people were driving back and forth. The congestion was so bad that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) had to issue a travel alert to remind people of the delays and the construction.
This is the third season of work on the bridge, replacing the concrete panels and working on the columns.
“We’ve installed over 266 panels out of a little over 600. In addition to that, we’ve done more than 80% of the work on the bridge piers,” WSDOT spokesperson Summer Derrey said. “We’ve made significant progress.”
There are still two construction seasons left before the work is complete. That’s 2028.
The lane restrictions start several miles to the east and west of the bridge, and the delays can extend significantly to the merge. The best advice is to avoid the middle of the day.
“If you want to avoid them, definitely go a day or two before, a day or two after, or really, really early in the morning or really late at night,” Derrey said. “The peak time is typically from about noon to 6 p.m., which you want to avoid.”
How to plan around Vantage Bridge delays
It’s terrible eastbound on Friday afternoons and westbound on Sunday afternoons.
If you’re heading east, don’t be tempted to use the Old Vantage Highway to get around the backups. It just can’t handle the capacity, and you’ll sit in long delays trying to get back onto the freeway.
“The main reason why I don’t recommend it is when you’re connecting back onto I-90 onto the bridge, when you’re headed eastbound, that’s where the pinch point is,” Derrey said. “You’re compounding the backup that already exists on I-90 by trying to get in.”
These lane restrictions are in place 24 hours and day. They will remain blocked until the weather turns bad later in the year, likely November. Work will stop, and all lanes will reopen for Memorial Day weekend, the 4th of July weekend, and Labor Day weekend.
A little bonus this year for soccer fans, the lane restrictions will be lifted from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July. A full six weeks of open lanes for the World Cup.
“The bad news is it looks like the Gorge concert venue has some really good concerts this summer, and we can’t open it up to all four lanes for every single concert,” Derrey said.
It’s going to be another nice weekend coming up, so be sure to plan your trip to eastern Washington with this in mind.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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