Date:  Friday, March 20, 2009

Contact: Greg Phipps, WSDOT Communications, 206-437-6314 (Seattle)

Drivers should expect more than a year of overnight closures at I-90 and I-5 interchange

SEATTLE –The Interstate 90 bridges over I-5 are getting a safety upgrade.

On Sunday, March 22, WSDOT contractor crews will begin work to strengthen the columns, girders and crossbeams of the double-decked overpass that carries I-90 over I-5 to better with stand earthquakes. Crews also will strengthen the supports of the nearby 12th Avenue S. Bridge starting in May.

The $10.4 million project is funded by the 2005 gas tax and will support an estimated 104 jobs.

Crews will work mostly at night to keep traffic moving during the day. Drivers should expect overnight lane and ramp closures through June 2010 at the I-90/I-5 interchange. Drivers can keep up-to-date on the latest closure information at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/King/Construction. For more information about the project, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i90/i5to12thseismic.

WSDOT built major portions of the double-decked I-90 overpass in the mid-1960s, but they stood unused for more than 20 years because of legal challenges, and become known as part of the “ramps to nowhere.” In 1988 WSDOT connected the overpass and ramps at the interchange to I-5 and I-90.

The project is part of WSDOT’s seismic retrofit program. WSDOT is strengthening more than 900 bridges and structures across the state to better withstand earthquakes. WSDOT built these bridges and structures before stricter seismic standards were established.

Work on another I-90 seismic retrofit project will start soon. In mid-April crews working for WSDOT will kick off the I-90 Eastside Seismic Retrofit project. In this project WSDOT will bring 16 bridges up to earthquake safety standards between Richards Road in Factoria and Winery Road in North Bend. Drivers will see daytime and overnight closures on I-90 and city streets that cross below the bridges until October 2009.

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