Date:  Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Contact: Bronlea Mishler, WSDOT communications, 360-757-5947
Chris Damitio, WSDOT project engineer, 360-788-7400

Project will replace bridge approach panels near Northwest Ave.

BELLINGHAM – Drivers who use I-5 north of Bellingham will want to plan some extra time into their schedules during the first weekend of March. Crews will close one lane of southbound I-5 to remove and replace bridge approach panels near the Northwest Avenue exit.

Crews will close the right lane of southbound I-5 at 10 p.m. Friday, March 6, and reopen it by 5:30 a.m. Monday, March 9. This will be the first of two weekend closures. Crews will need to close the left lane the following weekend to complete the panel replacement. The work is weather dependent.

The foundation material for the bridge approach panels is breaking down, causing the panels to sink and become unstable. Crews will replace foundation material and install new panels during the weekend lane closures. The work will be similar to the work that occurred on I-5 at the Ohio Street overpass last summer.

The panel replacement is the first part of a project to repair and replace cracked concrete panels and install dowel bars along a five-mile stretch of southbound I-5.

“Even though this will only be a three- to four-month project, it will create more than 25 construction-related jobs,” project engineer Chris Damitio said.

This section of southbound I-5 is the original roadway constructed in the late 1950s. The concrete panels are settling and cracking and need to be repaired to improve safety for the approximately 25,000 drivers who use this stretch of I-5 daily.

For more information, visit the project Web page at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/I5/Bakerview_NooksackRiverBridge.  

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