Barbara LaBoe

Many of you no doubt remember the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in May 2013 and the dramatic images of the bridge and vehicles in the water.

This bridge over the Wallace River along State Route 2 in Snohomish County shows bridge clearance signs  that were reviewed statewide following the Skagit River Bridge collapse. It’s one of several steps, including a new online mapping tool, WSDOT is taking to help truck drivers make safer travel decisions.

The bridge fell after an oversized commercial truck struck it, sending a part of Interstate 5 and two vehicles into the river. All the drivers survived, but, tragically, Washington State Trooper Sean O’Connell was killed while managing detour traffic. Traffic on a key freight and transportation corridor also was severely disrupted.

In the aftermath we worked to set up detours and repair the bridge. But we also reviewed what else we could do to help truck drivers better prepare to travel through our state. The driver is still ultimately responsible for verifying that their truck is safe for their proposed route, but we looked for ways to help – and to better protect all motorists, our bridges and our critical freight corridors.

The result?  A new online “trip planner” system that allows truck drivers to more easily check for clearance hazards before they head out.

As part of their permit application, drivers can now enter the height of their vehicle and then the state route or interstate number. A map displays the entire route with color-coded markers for areas that are too low or may require a specific lane for proper clearance. An additional feature is the ability to use an exact address to zoom into a particular area.

See a red dot on your proposed trip map? Better find a different route or detour. Spot a yellow marker? That’s your cue to do more research about lane-by-lane clearance. Previously, drivers had to consult their own maps and then look up each bridge individually.

Red and yellow markers on the new trip planner mapping tool warn truck drivers to avoid or use caution around low clearance bridges on their route.

The idea behind this tool had been brainstormed here for a while. When the bridge collapsed we brought it to the forefront. We still had to create a new database and a user-friendly website, but the previous “wish list” planning gave us a head start.

To make sure the product works the way truckers will use it, we also partnered with the Washington Trucking Association. Their members provided suggestions and “test drove” the system last fall as we fine-tuned the mapping tool and the website.

We’re also working to add more features such as lane-by-lane clearance levels. That feature should be in place by 2017, but we’re glad to have the new tool available for use now.

Would the trip planner have single handedly prevented the bridge collapse? It’s hard to say because numerous factors can combine to cause crashes.

That’s why we’ve also:

• Made the new database available to third parties who have expressed interest in creating navigation and safety apps for commercial drivers. Sharing the data should get the safety information into even more drivers’ hands.
• Rewritten our requirements and permits for clarity.
• Reviewed signs on all bridges with clearance 15 feet 3 inches tall and lower. 
• Made the commercial vehicle permit webpage more user friendly, including a step-by-step “How do I get a Permit?” section and answers to frequently asked questions about pilot car requirements.
• Added the trip planner tool on our road restrictions webpage.
• Started a comprehensive statewide review/re-measurement of all bridges 16 feet 6 inches tall or lower. This is scheduled to be complete in late 2015.

We hope these steps, and the renewed awareness of the issue, will help truck drivers make safer travel decisions across our state.

The North Fork Lewis River Bridges after their $12 million paint jobs.

By Tamara Hellman

Painting a bridge is a lot different than painting your house. Sure, it’s nice to get a touch-up to improve your home’s curb appeal. But for a bridge, it’s more than just making it look pretty.

Painting helps preserve the roughly 3,500 bridges we manage around the state. The paint helps protect our bridges from the elements so everyone can use them for a longer period of time.

Here’s an example. We just finished painting the North Fork Lewis River Bridges on I-5 south of Woodland. Both spans carry 65,000 vehicles a day on our state’s primary north-south interstate highway.

Decades of wear, including rust and peeling paint, on one of the bridges’ trusses.

If we didn’t paint these bridges, they would rust and deteriorate faster. The last time the North Fork Lewis River Bridges received a fresh coat, it was 1990. Since then, its “Cascade Green” color has worn off in spots and rust has formed on sections of the steel. Without a proper touch-up, the rust would spread and deteriorate the steel structure, causing it to weaken. Eventually, the bridge would not be able to carry the load it once did. As a result, freight haulers would have to make long detours, putting a crimp on interstate commerce.

We try our best to paint bridges every couple decades to ensure they’re properly protected. While it’s cheaper to paint a bridge than it is to build a new one, it still costs a decent amount of money. For the North Fork Lewis River Bridges, the final bill was around $12 million– about 20 percent under budget, paid for by both state-gas-tax and federal-preservation funds.

Why so much?
Several factors contribute to the cost of a bridge-painting project, two of which are the most important:

1. Keeping people safe
With any project, we need to keep traffic moving while ensuring the safety of both the people traveling through our work zones and the crews working in them. A good portion of the cost covers safety measures, such as temporary barriers, traffic control and scaffolding. Lane closures are expensive and limit the times when contractors can do their work.  If we have to close lanes, we do it mostly at night or on weekends, when people travel less frequently. Temporary barriers also provide a safe work area for crews, as well as safe lanes of travel for drivers. Scaffolding is used so workers can get access to high and low points on the bridges, and cable systems are used to protect the workers from falling. Keeping everyone safe is our number-one priority.

Barriers provide safe lanes of travel for drivers and a safe place for crews to work.

2. Keeping the environment safe
We work to be good stewards of the environment– not simply because it’s required as part of the permitting process, but because it’s the right thing to do. During the North Fork Lewis River Bridges repainting project, contractor crews installed a containment system of tarps, collection tubes and vacuum systems to prevent the many layers of deteriorated paint, rust and other debris from falling into the river. They sandblasted the old lead-based paint off the steel and cleaned the rust and dirt off the bridge. The environmental-protection systems collected all the material so crews could dispose of it properly. This was done in sections to keep the metal from exposure to the elements for too long, preventing new rust from forming before each section could be painted.

Environmental protection systems prevent debris from falling in the river.

The end result
The new coats of paint are expected to help preserve the bridges for about 25 years. We maximize the life of the paint by cleaning our bridges between paintings to remove debris that can make them deteriorate faster.

We have a significant backlog of steel bridges that need to be repainted throughout our highway system. With less funding and the list of bridges growing, we have to make some tough decisions on prioritizing which ones get painted next. We are constantly exploring practical ways to maintain and preserve our bridges, and we do it with safety, cost savings and the environment in mind.

By Lynn Peterson

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Skagit River Bridge collapse. I was just finishing dinner when I received a call saying that a section of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge had collapsed and several vehicles were in the water. I knew this was not a drill and that it would certainly be a critical test for my agency moving forward.

My first thought was how many people could be hurt? As first responders arrived on scene, the Governor and I flew out of Olympia by helicopter to survey the damage. Details were

After - The completed bridge

sparse. We knew that an oversized truck appeared to have hit a support beam of the steel-trussed bridge, which was later determined to cause the collapse. Thankfully, everyone who was on the bridge was found safe. Unfortunately, the state suffered a tragic loss after the bridge collapse when Trooper Sean O’Connell was killed while managing detour traffic. He made the ultimate sacrifice serving the citizens of Washington. 

The next three months, were a challenge for impacted Skagit families, communities and businesses as well as for this agency. And with just three months on the job, I along with many other people in our state, became keenly aware of the vulnerability of our transportation infrastructure.
A lot of questions arose from the impact of the Skagit River Bridge collapse. Questions about the safety of our bridges, commercial vehicles that carry goods long distances, and what more could be done to keep people moving.


There are nearly 3,700 bridges in our state inventory, and many were built long ago and are still in good shape. With the Skagit River Bridge, many people outside of the engineering world learned new terms, “Fracture Critical,” and “Functionally Obsolete.” Simply put, Fracture Critical means if that if key supports fail, the bridge is in danger of collapsing. Functionally Obsolete is a technical term to reflect that design standard have changed, and a modern bridge would be built differently. Neither term means that a bridge is unsafe. Our bridges are inspected at least every two years, to ensure they are able to meet the day-to-day demands of traffic. With our detailed records, we can make strategic decision for improvements and extend the life of these structures.

When the I-5 Skagit River Bridge was first constructed in 1955, freight cargo wasn’t nearly as large as it can be today. Since 2008, we’ve issued around 860,000 special vehicle permits for oversized and overweight loads. That number coupled with the 103 bridge impacts during the same time period show that freight haulers are generally very good about following the law by ensuring their load can safely travel underneath our structures. Still, the target is zero. We can’t drive the routes for each trucker, but we can provide drivers with good information so they can make good decisions. We sign our overhanging structures more aggressively than the national standard, provide easy to access permitting information and up-to-date restrictions for highways statewide.

Our team was able to quickly reopen the bridge to traffic in 27 days with a temporary span, followed by a permanent replacement in 66 days using a creative design-build method that minimized traffic impacts. This was an impressive achievement carried out by a creative team driven to reconnect our communities along this vital corridor and funded by our partners at the Federal Highway Administration.


Before Thanksgiving, we even raised the overheard clearance to 18 feet across all lanes. We’ve been asked about retrofitting the overhead height of other bridges, but we simply do not have the funding. With the little money we do have, we strategically use it (pdf) for preservation like painting projects that prevent corrosion of our steel structures, or bridge deck rehab projects that can extend the structure’s life 20 to 30 years to keep traffic moving.

There’s still one more chapter to be written for the Skagit River Bridge, and that will be included in the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board. With their information, we could learn what, if anything can be done to better protect our transportation infrastructure for generations to come.

By guest blogger Tom Pearce

Steel column jackets, like these used in the seismic retrofit of the SR 509 Puyallup River Bridge, will be installed at 12 locations along I-5.

We’re going to have another major earthquake here. OK, I can’t tell you when or where it will be centered, but if you’ve lived around here for a few years, you know we live in a seismically active area.

When the big one hits, transportation infrastructure is going to be critical to the region’s recovery. We’re going to need the freeways and bridges, particularly from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Seattle, to move supplies and materials to recover and rebuild. To prepare for this, in 1991 we started a seismic retrofit program to minimize and avoid catastrophic bridge failures.

As part of that program, we’re upgrading overpasses along I-5, from SR 18 to South 288th Street in Federal Way, and from Kent’s Military Road to South Rose Street in Seattle. We’re also just wrapping up a project at the M Street and I-705 overpasses in Tacoma. We’re going to strengthen freeway overpasses to help them better withstand earthquakes. How are we going to do this? Well, we’ll add:

• Steel column jackets: These are steel plates wrapped around the columns that hold up overpasses and bridges to keep them from crumbling and collapsing in an earthquake.

• Bolster supports: These widen the pier caps that hold up the girders supporting the roadway, making it harder for the girders to slip off in an earthquake.

• Girder stops: These keep the girders from sliding side-to-side in an earthquake.

We’ll be working at 12 sites between Federal Way and Seattle, strengthening a total of 22 overpasses.  This work is important, but you’re going to see some impacts around worksites. Sidewalk, shoulder and single lane closures are necessary along the roads under I-5 where our contractors will be working.

Most of the work will be done at night, which could be noisy for nearby homes at a few of the locations. We have noise rules and work with each local jurisdiction to do everything we can to limit and mitigate the noise, but in some cases it will still be there. Our contractors will send flyers to homes that could be most affected before starting the work.

Major highways aren’t the only place we’re doing seismic retrofits. We’re also working on the Scatter Creek Bridge, east of Enumclaw. Every winter SR 410 closes at Crystal Mountain Boulevard. The Scatter Creek Bridge is important because it’s the only year-round westerly link for local residents, visitors and emergency vehicles.

Since the program began, we’ve completely retrofitted more than 280 bridges and done partial retrofits on more than 130 others. Even with this year’s work, we’ll still have more than 450 to go.

It takes time, and we’re doing the work as quickly as possible. But as sure as we’re going to have another earthquake, we’ll keep working to strengthen our bridges and overpasses.

 By guest blogger Meagan McFadden

Drivers traveling on I-90 this summer need to know before they go to avoid construction-related delays.

Several major road improvement projects will delay you if you drive over I-90 this year as we improve sections of roadway across a 50-mile stretch.

Crews are scheduled to start work again in mid-April on a dozen projects that add lanes, build bridges, repave bridge decks and repair cracked sections of pavement.

Construction at several locations east of Snoqualmie Pass will require single-lane closures and rolling slowdowns this summer, which will add to travel time. During construction, drivers need to add at least an hour to their east-west trips, especially if trying to catch a flight or make a time-sensitive appointment.

It’s going to be a very busy construction season on I-90 and when we say, ‘plan ahead’, we mean it. We’re letting you know now, so you can take the surprise out of your trip and plan accordingly.

We have a wide variety of resources to help drivers take the surprise out of their trips across I-90 this year. Drivers can find information on multiple websites, including the What’s Happening on I-90, Snoqualmie Mountain Pass and Traffic Alerts pages. Drivers can also follow us on Twitter @snoqualmiepass and @wsdot_passes or sign up for email updates. While on the road, drivers can use our travel time signs to find out how long it will take them to get to their destination.
                                                                                                                      
In mid-April, crews resume work on a $551 million project that builds a wider, safer and more reliable stretch of I-90 from Hyak to Keechelus Dam. Later this spring, crews on this 5-mile-long project will resume blasting along the rock slopes east of Snoqualmie Pass. Drivers need to plan for hour-long closures, Mondays through Thursdays, starting an hour before sunset. Due to the nature of blasting operations this year, some closures may last longer than an hour.

In late April, crews will begin deck repair on five bridges along I-90 between Easton and Ellensburg. Crews will remove a thin layer of the existing bridge deck, repair damaged concrete, reinforce the deck with steel and repave with asphalt. Crews will also begin repaving deteriorating pavement in both directions west of Easton Hill. Drivers could experience delays of up to 15 minutes Monday through Friday through the work zone.

by guest blogger Brianna Ahron

Have you ever seen a crack in a cement bridge and thought, “That can’t be safe?” Well, that crack you are looking at may be cosmetic and nothing to worry about.

Crack in the concrete on the Aurora Bridge

Steel bars in the concrete give it strength

 This is a crack on the Aurora Bridge facing Fremont. The picture was sent to us in early May by a concerned citizen wondering if the cracks concerned us. The answer is no. Our bridge inspectors examine bridges every two years or more depending on structural issues or the age of the bridges. The inspectors noted these cracks in their most recent routine bridge inspection report on Aug. 1, 2010.

Cement bridges have many reinforcing features to help keep them standing, such as steel bars that run through the concrete. These bars help to increase the strength and durability of the bridge. They also have contraction joints, which are grooves in the concrete slabs that help control where cracks occur. The cracks in the Aurora Bridge were considered cosmetic, and were  likely caused by shrinkage in the concrete from moisture in the air and changes in temperature. Cosmetic cracking due to weather is expected in all cement bridges.  This is why cement structures are reinforced with contraction joints, so that the cracks that do occur are in predictable, safe locations.
   
Our engineers are experts on determining whether a crack is structural or cosmetic, but how can you tell? Structural cracks generally occur at locations where the stresses on the bridge cause the reinforcing steel inside the cement to stretch to the point where the concrete cracks. This occurs mostly at high-stress areas in the middle and ends of beams. If a structural crack does occur, it needs to be repaired immediately.

Cosmetic cracks are usually very thin, one-sixteenth of an inch or less, and occur in low- stress areas of bridge support beams. They can become structural over time as water and air reach the reinforcing steel inside the concrete. Once the cracking reaches the steel, it’s considered a structural crack. Structural cracks are typically larger than cosmetic cracks and can cause the steel to rust and corrode. The rust and corrosion takes up more space than the original steel reinforcement. This can put unwanted pressure on the concrete and cause it to crack.

According to bridge engineer Craig Yasuda, cracks occur in every cement bridge. During bridge inspections, engineers look at the size and the width of cracks on the beams of bridges and if the cracks are in areas of high stress. The Aurora Bridge gets inspected at least every two years. Last year it was inspected after one year due to some retrofit work. Some older bridges or bridges with structural issues are inspected even more frequently.

We are a national leader in bridge inspections and maintenance. There are roughly 7,000 bridges in the state that we inspect biennially. The bridge program emphasizes cost-effective preservation programs that increase the life-expectancy of bridges and make them safer. Some of our bridge programs include bridge replacement and rehabilitation work; seismic retrofit work to strength bridges to withstand earthquakes; and bridge foundation scour mitigation to repair areas beneath bridge support pilings that have been washed away by water.

We have 56 trained engineers and technicians who perform bridge inspections, including specialized dive teams and mechanical and electrical inspectors. In 2010, we inspected 1,963 bridges, and 1,859 are scheduled for inspection in 2011.

When asked what makes the our bridge inspection program so great, Yasuda said, “It’s because we inspect our bridges on time.” He also said that we have an excellent bridge maintenance program that helps keep the bridges clean and alerts the bridge team if there is anything wrong with a bridge in between inspections.
So, if you see a crack on a bridge, don’t worry. Our bridge engineers have got a handle on it. For any other information or concerns about bridges or the inspection program, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Bridge/Reporting/.

The Havana Bridge, one of the bridges that will be resurfaced in this project.

by guest blogger Ann Briggs

What happens when you squeeze more than 100,000 vehicles a day into just two lanes in each direction of freeway?  Drivers on Interstate 90 in Spokane, just east of the downtown area, will find out on Monday, July 11, when crews give two freeway bridges some much-needed repairs and resurfacing.

We last refurbished these two bridges in 1984. Since then, the daily pounding of about 110,000 vehicles has taken its toll, and the two spans need some extra attention. Contractor crews will remove the asphalt surface and repair the underlying concrete bridge deck and approach slabs on the Altamont Street and Havana Street structures on the busiest segment of I-90 in Eastern Washington. The 24 hours-per-day lane restrictions will remain in place until the project’s completion.

So what are we doing to keep traffic moving? It’s a tough challenge to keep traffic flowing and reduce the potential for collisions. Our traffic engineers took a real close look at how to manage the through traffic, while making room for people to get on and off the freeway, and found it just didn’t add up.  So to keep I-90 from total gridlock, we’re reducing I-90’s four lanes to only two lanes of traffic in the 1.4-mile section between the two bridges, and closing several on and off ramps. Because many drivers will choose to use Second and Third as alternate routes, closing the on and off ramps will keep vehicles from causing collisions while trying to get on the freeway and traffic trying to get off the freeway from backing up into the mainline.

A project diagram with specific lane and ramp closure information is available on the Spokane Freeway Fix website.

West Company, Inc. of Airway Heights is the prime contractor for this $1.7 million project. To get the job done as quickly as possible and minimize the traffic headaches for drivers, their crews will be working 24-hours a day Monday through Saturday. The contract includes a bonus if the contractor finishes the work ahead of schedule.

We also have a major project on the Sunset Hill to the west of downtown Spokane and a freeway widening project east of Spokane near Liberty Lake. We want everyone to get home safely, so please be extra careful when you are in the “cone zone” and watch for reduced speed limit signs on some of these jobs.

by guest blogger Bronlea Mishler

As you drive through Marysville on I-5, it might be easy to overlook the little steel bridge just to the east, spanning the Ebey Slough on State Route 529. But if you’re stuck in seemingly never-ending freeway traffic, that little bridge can become a driver’s best friend. Built in 1925, the swing-span bridge across the Ebey Slough gives local drivers the option to avoid I-5 congestion as they travel between Everett and Marysville.

Back in its heyday, however, the span was one of the few options for crossing the Ebey Slough. At the time, the bridge was the pinnacle of then-modern technology. It could pivot open at its center to allow tall boats to pass, then swing closed to allow traffic across. One 11-foot-wide lane in each direction gave drivers ample room, and a three-foot sidewalk gave bicyclists and pedestrians space to cross, too. 

Fast-forward 86 years, and that once-modern bridge now seems narrow – unsuited for today’s wider vehicles – with not enough room for pedestrians and cyclists to pass. And frequent openings for marine vessels can put a serious hitch in drivers’ daily commutes.

Fortunately, a solution is on the way. Last year, crews began work on a replacement Ebey Slough Bridge – this time taller, wider, and built out of sturdy steel girders with a concrete roadway. Standing 13 feet taller than the old bridge, the new span won’t need to open for marine traffic. And with two 12-foot driving lanes in each direction, plus two six-foot sidewalks and two five-foot bike lanes, there’s plenty of room for all types of commuters.

This month marks a major milestone for construction crews as they begin setting 49 girders, each weighing in at approximately 31 tons. It’s more visible work for drivers, too. Most of the work completed since last year has been fairly innocuous: Crews have built temporary work platforms above the slough, drilled deep holes for steel and concrete pilings, and prepared the support structure for the steel girders. Now that the girders are in place, the new bridge is really beginning to take shape – literally. For the first time, the new 680-foot span is beginning to look like a bridge, not just a forest of concrete pillars.

Placing each of the girders – which stand seven feet tall and range in length from 100 to 135 feet – is a time-consuming process. Two cranes pluck a girder from the work platform, carefully guide it into position, and then gently swing it into place atop the concrete pilings. The crews typically set 3 girders per day, and expect to wrap up placement of all the girders by the end of June.

By April 2012, drivers who have patiently (or not-so-patiently) been watching the new bridge take shape will finally get a chance to drive on the span. Crews plan to open the bridge to northbound traffic in April; southbound traffic will have to wait to use the new span until August, as crews wrap up work in those lanes. Once all traffic is on the new bridge, crews will demolish the old steel span.

by guest blogger Jamie Holter

I learned this week that we paint a lot of things Washington Gray which seemed redundant to me especially this time of year when so much of the western half of this state is just flat out gray from skyline to skyline, sun up to sundown.

I was researching the new Aurora Seismic project. We will wrap earthquake protection around columns that support the bridge… and then paint the columns Washington Gray.

Apparently, concrete comes in all different colors and when we match old bridges to new, current work to decades-old work, and even concrete strengths (4000 PSI vs. 10,000 PSI) the grays don't match. We paint the structures the same gray so they do. It also allows us to repaint over graffiti quickly and inexpensively and leaves a more aesthetically pleasing look.

But it's not all Washington Gray. We use Mt. St. Helens Gray when we want to spice things up a bit or blend in. Noise walls that sit off the roadway in foliage get Mt. St. Helens Gray so they're less noticeable. It's all about gray camouflage.

	Washington Gray - Used for bridges, concrete columns, walls that support ramps, and noise walls near the road.
	Mount St Helens Gray - Used primarily in the greater Seattle area for noise walls a little farther away from the freeway near foliage.
	Baker Gray - I-405 corridor - provides dark gray accents as a contrast and makes structures visually more interesting
	Cascade Green - I-405 corridor – provides green color to bridges on the I-405 corridor

Mt. Baker Gray and Cascade Green on I-405

Locals along the I-405 corridor wanted something different still. They wanted Mt. Baker Gray and Cascade Green. Snoqualmie Pass and North Spokane corridor folks wanted something warmer than gray, something taupe-ier (is that even a word?) I don't blame them, though. By February, a taupy overpass is cheaper than a trip to Hawaii for every Spokane resident.

We aren't alone in this context sensitivity. Many states do it. In the Southwest, they opt for more vibrant colors – pinks and yellows. California chooses adobe. I guess we've learned to love gray!

While I take responsibility for the safety of myself and my family, the last thing I want to have to think about when I hit the highway is how safe the roads or bridges might be.

The U.S. Government Accountability office recently released a report about bridge safety recently that, in short, stated: “Congress received a report today that says ‘one in four bridges in the United States is either structurally deficient and in need of repair, or functionally obsolete and is not adequate for today’s traffic.’” 

What does that mean for those of us who drive in Washington state?  Of the more than 3,600 bridges owned and maintained by the state, 97 percent are in good or fair condition.  That number ranks us 27 in the nation among states with the highest number of structurally deficient bridges. Yes, I paused at the word "structurally deficient," too.  Fortunately, it sounds more dramatic than it actually is. After doing some research, I found out that it is just a fancy engineering term for "still safe, but on the list to have some work done."

In light of this report, we wanted to make sure you knew that we are working hard to preserve and maintain our roads and bridges (see the June 2009 bridge assessment pdf).  Since 2000, we have invested nearly $850 million towards bridges (nearly half of that was spent on the Hood Canal Bridge project). The 2005 transportation funding package also provided $87 million to strengthen bridges in case of an earthquake.  More good news is that we are making progress on our most vulnerable structures, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the SR 520 floating bridge.  Want to learn more about what we are doing?  Be sure to check out the Gray Notebook where we have been reporting since 2001 about what we are doing to make sure our bridges remain safe.

by guest blogger Meagan McFadden

It takes a lot of skill and coordination to place a 44,000 pound bridge span within a quarter of an inch of its final location, in this case, above the roadway on Valley Mall Boulevard in Union Gap. Now repeat that process two more times. In all, our contractor, Apollo Inc., moved three metal spans weighing a grand total of 61 tons on June 15, 2010. That’s like moving eight elephants – what a zoo!


If you don't have access to YouTube, here is a Windows media version so you can watch the video.

Since April, our contractor has moved 48,000 yards of dirt and will place 9,000 tons of asphalt for the temporary lanes, which will be used as a detour so crews can build the new I-82 Valley Mall Boulevard interchange. We plan to shift traffic onto the temporary detour (pdf) the second week in July. Eastbound travelers on I-82 will shift to the left and use what are currently the westbound lanes. Westbound travelers on I-82 will shift over to the newly constructed temporary westbound lanes, including the temporary bridge. The eastbound on-and-off-ramps to I-82 will be temporarily detoured to N. Rudkin Road. This detour will remain in effect until this fall.

This year, construction crews will build two of the three roundabouts and build the new eastbound I-82 bridge. Next summer, construction crews will finish the third roundabout, the westbound I-82 bridge, pave the Yakima Greenway parking lot, and finish widening lanes on Main Street.

Once the back-hoes, dump trucks, asphalt trucks, and orange cones are gone, and the construction crews have packed up and left in fall of 2011, drivers will have a new and improved interchange. This project will change how the on-ramps and off-ramps connect to Valley Mall, three new roundabouts at the new intersections will decrease delay and congestion, and two new, wider bridges on I-82 will accommodate future widening of I-82.

Winter is barely halfway over, but here at WSDOT we’re quickly transitioning into construction season. If you’re familiar with WSDOT projects, you know what that means: you’ll see the signature orange of our traffic cones, construction barrels, and safety vests as crews get to work improving our state highways.

What you might not know is that our construction activities aren’t limited solely to large, visible projects. Some of our projects are barely noticeable to freeway drivers, and you may not have realized that we’ve been working under your feet (er, car) all along. In fact, if you’ve traveled on I-5 from Seattle to Everett lately, you’ve driven right over one of our active construction sites. Since October 2008, crews have been working to retrofit 19 bridges (overpasses and underpasses) on I-5 between Tukwila and Lynnwood, and are currently working in both Tukwila and Mountlake Terrace.

In plain English, seismic retrofitting means improving a bridge to protect it against future earthquakes. Although these bridges are all structurally safe for everyday traffic, simple upgrades can go a long way towards keeping the bridge intact and motorists safe in the event of a large earthquake.

So how has this work progressed without you noticing all those orange barrels and construction equipment? The trick is that construction occurs beneath the surface of the roadway, focusing on bridge columns, crossbeams and girders.



Improvements to an individual bridge typically include one or more of the following:

1. Column jacketing – installing a metal jacket around the bridge column. If a concrete column were to crack during an earthquake, the metal jacket would hold the pieces together, preventing the column from crumbling.
2. Bolster retrofitting – extending the crossbeam to prevent girders from slipping off sideways during an earthquake. Girders support the roadway, so it’s important to keep girders intact.
3. Girder stops – installing concrete blocks on either side of the girder to stop the girder from sliding or tipping over.

In addition to the 19 bridges that are slated for improvement as part of the I-5 project, there are more than 900 bridges across the state that will be improved as part of the Seismic Retrofit Program. For more information, take a look at the project Web site or the statewide Seismic Retrofit page.

Editor's note: post written by Aurora Jones.