State crews will do more paving and re-striping this weekend along Interstate 5 in the Kent, Des Moines and SeaTac areas.
Crews will start closing the lanes at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 29. By 10 p.m., southbound I-5 will be reduced to the two left lanes, starting just south of State Route 518 and ending near SR 516.
Then, on Sunday, they’ll shake it all about and switch traffic to the two right lanes. All lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 1.
Switching a work zone from one side of I-5 to the other can be a bit tricky. Crews will move a lot of orange traffic barrels, all while keeping traffic moving. That’s what the crews will do this weekend between 6 and 10 a.m. Sunday, depending on how quickly crews complete paving the right lanes.
When crews are shifting traffic from the left to the right, drivers should expect big backups and delays. A better bet will be to use alternate routes like I-405 and State Routes 99, 167 and 518.
Drivers should also consider traveling early in the morning, taking transit or carpooling or postponing travel. If you choose to stick with I-5, bring your patience and give yourself plenty of extra travel time.
Looking ahead, crews will take the weekend of Aug. 6-7 off so they don’t interfere with Seafair traffic, but then are back to work for the final two closure weekends. On Aug. 12-15, crews will perform expansion joint replacement and drainage work on southbound I-5 in Tukwila.
The big finale is Aug. 19-22. In addition to replacing expansion joints on I-5 in Tukwila, southbound State Route 167 will be closed in Pacific to place a culvert under the highway.
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