Weekend Construction Project To Force Complete I-5 Shutdown

TACOMA, WA — A major construction project on I-5 will force crews to completely shut down the freeway in both direction for hours this weekend.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says that, starting Friday night and continuing Saturday night, their crews will be installing 10 220-foot-long bridge girders on I-5 and building the new 70th Avenue East Bridge in Fife. But a project that big is going to cause some major closures, which the DOT says in turn will leave a potential for significant backup in the area.

Here's a look at the closure area and some alternative detours WSDOT is proposing:

The closures will be in place both Friday and Saturday night, and will look like this:

• Select lanes in both northbound and southbound I-5 will close beginning at 8 p.m.
• At 11 p.m. all lanes in both directions will be closed between 54th Avenue East in Fife and Sr 18 in Federal Way.
• Lanes will begin to reopen at 8 a.m. the next morning.
• All lanes will reopen by noon.

The construction will also force several ramps too and from I-5 to close intermittently.

WSDOT says that, even though these closures are mostly overnight, there is still a big potential for traffic backups in the area. To alleviate backups, they're proposing two alternate detours through the area:

• For drivers traveling between Seattle and Olympia, they advise using SR 18, SR 167 and SR 512 to avoid I-5.
• For those headed to Tacoma or Gig Harbor, they recommend leaving I-5 for SR 99.

This weekend's construction is part of the ongoing SR 167/&0th Avenue East Bridge Project, which WSDOT says will ultimately improve connections to I-5 and the Port of Tacoma by replacing the two-lane bridge with a new four-lane bridge that includes a path for pedestrians and cyclists. The project is expected to be completed by Summer 2021.