Weekend Travel Headaches: Light Rail Disruption, I-5 Repairs

SEATTLE, WA - Prepare for a potentially tricky travel weekend in the Seattle area. Light rail service will be reduced or stopped completely between Rainier Beach in Seattle and Tukwila, and construction crews will be making repairs along I-5.

According to Sound Transit, cracks have started to appear in the rails that pass over I-5 and Boeing Access road south of the Rainier Beach station. Trains have been traveling painfully slow through the area, but crews will make repairs this weekend to restore service to full speed. Here's what will happen:

• At 9 p.m. Friday, service will be reduced to a single track for north and southbound trains between the Rainier Beach and Tukwila International Boulevard stations
• At 5 a.m. Saturday, there will be no light rail service between those two stations. Instead, a shuttle will bridge the gap between the two stations. An express bus will be available for service from Rainier Beach directly to Sea-Tac Airport.
• The shuttle will run every 10 minutes all day Saturday; the express bus will run every 10 - 20 minutes between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday
• Sunday at 9 a.m., single-track service will return. Full service will return Monday at 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, as part of the Lucile Street to Spring Street pavement repair project, WSDOT crews will reduce lanes on I-5.

• Beginning at 8:30 p.m. Friday, southbound I-5 between Spokane Street and Corson Avenue will reduce to one lane until 8:30 a.m. Saturday
• If it rains Friday night, the work will be pushed back to 8:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. overnight Saturday

File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch