Busy Weekend Ahead For Washington Drivers: What To Know

SEATTLE — Summer roadwork will be in full swing around Western Washington this weekend, adding delays for drivers heading to major events, including a three-game series at home for the red-hot Seattle Mariners and a pair of popular music festivals running through the weekend.

Interstate 5 will see the most interruptions, including lane reductions and temporary closures, and on the Eastside, a stretch of State Route 18 will be fully closed Saturday. According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, hitting pause was not an option, even as legions of Mariners fans head to T-Mobile Park over the next three days.

WSDOT wrote Thursday:

"We still have work we need to get done. Work that, because of the extensive concrete paving involved, can only be done when we have predictably dry, warmer weather. In our part of the world that is a very small window. The concrete needs time to cure, so it can’t all be done between midnight and 6 a.m. There isn’t enough time to avoid summer, daytime work.

Postponing the work isn’t an option. We have a full schedule of work this summer that we need to try to complete. Postponing would cost a significant amount of money and would set us far behind in our ability to make improvements to the highways and would affect work already planned for next summer. And, while disruptive now, all of this work will help improve overall travel throughout the area for years to come."

"Revive I-5" expansion joint replacements will reduce southbound lanes between Interstate 90 and the West Seattle Bridge starting Friday evening, shortly after the Mariners' sold-out game begins, and will continue into early Monday. Separately, significant maintenance work will fully close southbound I-5, between Stewart and Spring streets, between 9 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday.

Northbound I-5 will lose two northbound lanes for repairs planned on the Ship Canal Bridge, which is likely to cause delays for drivers from late Saturday night to early Sunday morning.

On the Eastside, State Route 18 will close in both directions between Interstate 90 and Issaquah-Hobart Road, allowing WSDOT crews to tackle a lengthy to-do list. The planned work includes pavement repairs and other maintenance and preliminary engineering work for the future widening of the highway. Contractors will also use the closure to inspect bridges and complete other surveys.

Here's a recap of what to expect this weekend, from WSDOT:

• Revive I-5 work will be happening once again as we continue replacing expansion joints. Southbound I-5 traffic between I-90 and the West Seattle Bridge will be re-directed into the collector-distributor lanes at about 7:30 p.m. Friday – after the Mariners game starts – until 5 a.m. Monday. This will add delays so everyone who can divert from the area helps others make it through more easily.
• Southbound I-5 will be fully closed between Stewart and Spring streets, with lanes starting to close at 9 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday for some significant maintenance work.
• Two right lanes of northbound I-5 will be closed from SR 520 to NE 45th Street from 11 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday for maintenance on the Ship Canal Bridge. The I-5 express lanes will run northbound all weekend except from 8 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday when they will be southbound.
• SR 18 will be fully closed between I-90 and Issaquah-Hobart Road for a variety of work including extensive maintenance.

Learn more about the weekend work on the WSDOT blog.