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Enjoy it while you can.
State highway engineers gathered in the Cabela’s parking lot last week in front of a large orange banner that told the story: “MAJOR TRAFFIC IMPACT COMING.”
Major impact, as in delays of up to five hours and worst-case scenarios of 21-mile backups.
That effect will be felt on evenings and nights and over nearly a dozen weekends this spring and summer as 25 miles of northbound and southbound I-5 between Tacoma and Lacey undergo repairs.
The first extended weekend closure will start Friday night in the Lacey area. Closures in the Lakewood-Tacoma area are to begin April 19.
Crews will replace 297 broken concrete panels in the freeway between Martin Way in Lacey and South 48th Street in Tacoma, near the Tacoma Mall. They also will embed 56,700 metal dowels into the concrete of one lane.
Finally, they will grind smooth the entire 25 miles.
Expect closures of up to three lanes in one direction on some weekends and a couple of total closures of I-5 in one direction.
Kevin Dayton, the state Department of Transportation administrator for the Olympic region, didn’t sugarcoat the effects on traffic. It’s is going to be bad, he said.
“We expect some pretty severe backups to get this work done,” he said.
How severe?
Backups could reach 5 miles or more, depending on traffic volumes and the number of lanes closed, Dayton said.
The state predicts that if at least 30 percent of the drivers using I-5 change their driving habits and hours, the delays will be one to three hours, project engineer Neal Uhlmeyer said.
“That’s about an 11-mile backup,” he said.
If no one driving on the freeway corridor gets the message, backups could be five hours or 21 miles.
Dayton urged drivers to defer trips, change driving times and check the project’s Web site for dates and times of closures. All closure times and dates will depend on the weather. The transportation department plans to keep its Web site updated.
The project will take place in two areas:
• The Lacey area from Martin Way north to Exit 114.
• The Lakewood-Tacoma area from Exit 123 south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Exit 116 at South 28th Street.
Nightly closures of the freeway in the Lacey area began nearly two weeks ago. Closures will continue from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the week. Drivers in the Tacoma area still have a few weeks before the delays hit.
Widening I-5 from Grand Mound to Maytown in South Thurston County also will affect traffic this summer.
For taxpayers, there is some good news in the Lacey-Tacoma project.
The goal is to extend the life of the freeway, said Tom Baker, a state material’s engineer.
The concrete pavement being rehabilitated has lasted 40 years, twice its design lifetime, he said. Rehabbing now will help maintain the roadway for 20 more years, he said.
And the freeway will be smoother, without the cracks, potholes and tipped panels.
The project wasn’t on the top-level construction schedule for this summer because there was no money for it. But low bids on several higher-priority projects made the I-5 project eligible for President Barack Obama’s stimulus program.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act found $8.4 million for the project, which state officials say will support 86 jobs.
Mike Archbold: 253-597-8692
mike.archbold@thenewstribune.com
