Date:  Monday, May 04, 2009

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

***UPDATE as of Friday, May 8 at 7:55 a.m.***
Crews preparing for the weekend-long lane closure of I-5 in Bellingham discovered a void underneath a bridge approach panel late Thursday night. The void is causing the panel to sink and become unstable. In order to keep the road safe for drivers, crews decided to close the southbound left lane of I-5 at the Northwest Avenue bridge one day early.

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BELLINGHAM – Drivers who use I-5 in Bellingham will want to plan some extra time into their schedules starting May 8. Crews will close one lane of southbound I-5 for the entire weekend to remove and replace bridge approach panels near the Northwest Avenue exit.

Crews will close the left lane of southbound I-5 near the Northwest Avenue bridge (milepost 257) at 10 p.m. Friday, May 8, and reopen it by 5:30 a.m. Monday, May 11. Drivers should expect delays. A wide-load detour is also in effect. The work is weather dependent.

This will be the first of two weekend-long closures. Crews will need to close the right lane the last weekend in May to complete the panel replacement.

The foundation material for the bridge approach panels is breaking down, causing the panels to sink and creating a bump for drivers crossing the bridge. Crews will replace foundation material and install new panels during the weekend lane closures.

The panel replacement is 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.  

View graphs of anticipated traffic delays: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/Bakerview_NooksackRiverBridge/WeekendDelays.htm.

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