By Afternoon Traffic Gal, aka Harmony Haveman Weinberg

Three weekdays down and just one more to go as we each continue to do our part by adjusting our driving/biking/riding/busing habits during the westbound I-90 lane closures to replace two worn out expansion joints.

WSDOT engineers released the latest traffic volumes on I-90 that show just how the commute looked each day this week so far and compared it to averages taken earlier this month.

Check out the graph below and follow the RED line for Monday, the GREEN line for Tuesday and the PURPLE line for Wednesday up until noon. The BLUE line shows the typical average times and volumes when all lanes are open on westbound I-90. As you read the graph you can see drivers who took westbound I-90 through the construction zone have consistently left earlier each day this week than they usually do. Many drivers found alternate routes or changed up their travel plans all together to avoid getting caught in a major backup.

This graph shows travel time comparisons for the first three commutes of #I90to1 against last week's westbound I-90 commute, which is in grey. With this we can tell that drivers are adjusting their trips with the peaks periods beginning earlier in the day. This helps keep traffic moving through the work zone.



We credit all commuters for helping with #I90to1! Let’s keep it up! We are almost finished!

~ Afternoon Traffic Gal

by Mike Allende

Concrete sealing part of the new expansion joint

The concrete needs about 12 hours to cure but workers will be monitoring it this afternoon. The concrete needs to reach a strength of 2,500 psi (pounds per square inch) for traffic to go over it. Whenever that happens, we’ll be switching the work zone to the other side of the highway to work on the other half of the joints. That is scheduled to happen around 9 p.m. Monday morning drivers will see traffic moving through the work zone in the Phase 2 configuration.

Phase 2 - Monday - Friday morning

By Bart Treece

The name of the game is to keep traffic moving safely. But when there are several construction and maintenance projects that need to get on the road, the job gets complicated.

There really isn’t a “good” time to close part of entire stretches of highway in a large metropolitan area. However, the work needs to get done. Much of it is important for maintaining and preserving our aging infrastructure, like replacing bridge expansion joints (pdf 937 kb) on I-5 or patching the deck of the Ship Canal Bridge. Ignoring these issues would eventually mean unscheduled emergency closures that could impact your regular route to work. We all saw how badly traffic was snarled when a damaged joint needed repairs ASAP last week. This is why we try to schedule these closures when it affects the least amount of people, at night if possible. Some projects need more time, such as when there’s concrete involved which needs time to cure before its strong enough to hold the weight of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. That leaves the weekend, when fewer folks hit the roads.

The white board where closures are initially coordinated with large Seattle events and holidays

Looking at only weekends, we try to avoid four during the summer: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Seafair and Labor Day weekend. This adds up to a whole month without weekend closures because we know those are big travel times. We’re now left trying to juggle projects on competing corridors, such as SR 520 and I-90 or SR 99, I-5 and I-405. It doesn’t take a traffic engineer to know that closing lanes in the same direction on north/south or east/west routes at the same time would be a very bad thing. Also add into the mix that there are several events including Mariners, Sounders, Husky and Seahawks football game traffic we try to take into consideration. We can’t forget weather, which isn’t always predictable in the ‘Pugetopolis’ region. The threat of liquid sunshine can push a weather-sensitive project back to another weekend.

With projects on every major route planned this summer, there’s not that many weekends left. When possible, we try to combine work to avoid spreading project impacts further along than needed.

By guest blogger Harmony Haveman Weinberg, aka @wsdot_traffic afternoon gal

As the official eyes of the afternoon Seattle commute, I see gnarly, nasty, unexpected and unpredictable traffic backups. Just how bad is the frustration among those stuck in a backup? Well, imagine being around your sweetie who did not receive flowers on Valentine’s Day. Yes. Drivers can feel that frustrated.

(Pssst: The holiday is Friday, Feb. 14! You’ve been warned.)

While some traffic events are unavoidable, dealing with major backups on southbound Interstate 5 in Seattle this weekend can be prevented. How? Well, it’s really all up to you, the individual driver.

You have the power, but I want to help.

I have some tips to guide you. Consider this my Valentine’s gift to you. But unlike the mystery of an unmarked box of chocolates, these tips will help you know what you are going to get.What’s that? You want to give me a gift, too? Here’s what I’d really like (besides roses and chocolate, of course): Help us spread the love this Valentine’s Day weekend by making sure all your loved ones get the message and plan ahead too.

When can I expect major backups this weekend?

• Any time from 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 through 5 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18

Where’s the construction?

• Two of three lanes on southbound I-5 between Pine Street (just north of the Washington State Convention Center)  and I-90 in downtown Seattle. During the closure we will replace four highway-wide expansion joints.

Crews chipped away concrete and debris last month in preparation to replace a 50-year-old expansion joint.

But I have to drive into Seattle this weekend!

• Avoid southbound I-5 into the city if possible. SR 99 is the best alternative.
• All on- and off-ramps in downtown Seattle will remain open.
• We’re keeping the I-5 express lanes open southbound until 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. This helps provide more access to the downtown Seattle on- and off-ramps, especially useful for carpoolers (hint, hint). However, and I stress however, they will not help you avoid the big closure because where they end, the construction begins. The I-5 express lanes will operate southbound on Monday from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Can you carpool? Take public transit? Take rail? Maybe work from home if you don’t get Presidents Day off?
• Local streets are also good alternates.
• If you plan to travel south of downtown, consider using southbound I-405.

Will I be able to access I-90?

• You betcha! The collector distributor, which runs parallel to southbound I-5, will be open allowing you to access I-90.  See map below.

History speaks for itself:

• We’ve had closures like this before. A few weeks ago it took folks traveling northbound about 50 minutes to get through the work zone. The alternate routes were underutilized. This weekend can be different, but the keys to change this are in the hands of drivers. Have your plan ready to go and avoid backups.

Why is the closure happening on the long President’s Day holiday weekend?

• There’s really no good time to reduce southbound I-5 to one lane in Seattle. With that said, this is crucial work that needs to be completed as soon as possible. While we make sure road work isn’t taking up lanes on busy travel holidays like Memorial or Labor Day weekends, President’s Day is different. It’s not a holiday for everyone but historically there are fewer vehicles on the road. Also, by working until the wee hours of Tuesday morning we can pack two weekends worth of expansion joint repair work into a single one.

@wsdot_twitter will not leave you!

• Follow us on Twitter! We will be working throughout the weekend! Our team will stay on top of the traffic conditions.
• Get the app! Let’s just say, it could be your best friend this weekend (besides, of course, your Valentine)

Remember, you have the power to keep traffic backups to a minimum! Together… We can do this!

 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 Jamie Holter

Crews will replace expansion joints on the I-5 ramps that connect West Seattle, Columbian Way and Spokane Street.

Don’t be surprised by construction. Know before you go in SODO.

This weekend, the first weekend in January, marks the official start of WSDOT’s 2013 Seattle area construction season. Construction crews will close the southbound I-5 ramp to the West Seattle Bridge and the westbound Columbian Way ramp to the West Seattle Bridge.

Traffic will be busier than usual as drivers wind their way to the West Seattle Bridge using the Viaduct, South Lander Street, Forest Street, First Avenue South and Fourth Avenue South.

During this weekend closure and the next 10 weekend closures, crews will replace 50-year old expansion joints, pieces of steel that run across all lanes and allow the bridge to bend and flex with heavy traffic and the freeze-thaw cycle.

 Each weekend closure will be a different ramp. Drivers who want to take the guess work out of construction closures can check the color-coded map (pdf 515 kb). Engineers have planned out each weekend closure between now and April.

Don’t be surprised by construction. Know before you go in SODO.

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 Dave Chesson

This machine helps us to remove the old concrete panels.

The hardwood floor in my house doesn’t look that bad, but it creaks too much and is getting really worn out in places. I know from past experience with other projects in my old house that once I start making repairs, I need to dedicate all the time and resources I can to avoid living for months on end in a layer of constant dust and debris.

So what do my house repairs have to do with your commute? All that construction work we’ve planned to fix northbound I-5 between Burlington and Lake Samish at the Whatcom County line is kind of like my house project. Once you start, you can’t turn back. And like my hardwood floor, we have 12 miles of I-5 pavement that’s cracking and wearing out, and in need of repair.

Our pavement repairs go beyond just fixing the cracks; the repairs go to the very foundation of our interstate. We will be ripping out and replacing bridge approaches and concrete roadway panels and repairing bridge decks, among other projects. This work will be complex, time-consuming and must be done in sequence, which means drivers can expect around-the-clock lane closures for two weeks, Mondays through Fridays.

If you plan to drive this stretch of northbound I-5 during the next few weeks, you’ll want to pay attention: Only one lane of northbound I-5 north of Burlington will be open next week from 7 p.m. Monday, June 20, through 10 a.m. Friday, June 24. You can expect delays of up to an hour or more during the afternoon commute, especially between 2 and 6 p.m. If you want to save yourself a lot of time and help us keep traffic moving, plan ahead and check when the best times are to travel through the project area, reschedule your trips, or take alternate routes. You can find more information on our project website. We need warm and dry weather for this work, so keep your fingers crossed for good weather. If all goes well, crews will complete the second five days worth of work starting on June 27.

When this part of the work is done, the most inconvenient part of construction for travelers will be out of the way. In order to resurface the entire roadway and complete other repairs, crews will still be working overnight during the week and will need to close a lane. There’ll also be the occasional ramp and rest stop closures. When the project is done in the fall, the road will be smooth and as good as new.



Travel graph
Flickr photos

by guest blogger Lisa Copeland

A lot of behind-the-scenes planning goes into highway work zones that will have a significant impact to traffic. There are meetings, phone calls, e-mails, written drafts, corrected drafts, and eventually final drafts of news releases, all of which are sometimes pretty much washed down the drain by the whims of Mother Nature.

We can plan all we want, but in the end, a lot of the materials we use to improve our highways are weather-sensitive, which makes it difficult to pinpoint exact schedules.

A good example of this is the upcoming I-5 Clover Creek Bridge Deck Project in Pierce County.

Overlaying the bridge’s deck and replacing approach slabs requires two extended weekend closures (up to two lanes closed Friday night through Monday morning), and two weekends of Friday and Saturday night lane closures.

That’s four weekends of construction. It was scheduled to begin in April, which has five weeks, so the work could have be all done by May, right? As you saw with April's weather, it didn't match what we needed to get the work done. The work, which includes overlaying the bridge deck with a modified concrete that has rapid-cure latex in it, requires at least 45 degrees and no rain. So, as April showers continue into May, we could be in for even more delay.

But what makes some projects subject to weather while others march forward like the U.S. Postal Service through rain, sleet and snow?

If all or even a portion of a project requires dry weather, then that’s exactly what’s needed to get the job done so that the significant investment of tax dollars results in the long-term performance we expect.

It’s also why no one paints the exterior of their house in the rain. Some projects here are very similar to this – paint striping, concrete placement, asphalt paving, compacting embankments, and even putting down traffic buttons all use materials that need certain temperature and moisture conditions to ensure success. Concrete and asphalt don’t cure or compact well if temperatures are too cold and painting or putting down traffic buttons in the rain generally makes a mess, which is a waste of time and money.

Our job is to get the word out so travelers can plan ahead and defer as many trips as possible during high-impact construction projects and minimize the backups. We alert the media, post notification throughout our website, make hundreds of phone calls and send numerous e-mails asking drivers to avoid the impacted area.

We try to provide as much notice as possible and monitor weather forecasts like nervous brides planning an outdoor wedding prior to the event, but even with our best efforts, sometimes work is cancelled late in the game because of last-minute changes in the weather.

So, what can you do to help us out and still get where you need to go? Be flexible if your summer plans include travel through upcoming work zones. All of the planned highway summer construction is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2011. A weekly look at impacts is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction.

If rescheduling your trip is not an option try to find an alternate route. If travel through an impacted area is unavoidable, allow yourself plenty of extra time to reach your destination, check our website for the BEST time to travel and get the latest highway information by calling 511.

by guest blogger Noel Brady

Glen Palacio and Kirk Whalen

Two contractor crewmen on I-90 were the right guys in the right place Thursday, May 5, when they ran to help a motorist having a heart attack in morning rush hour. Gary Merlino Construction workers Kirk Whalen and Glen Palacios likely saved the man’s life because they knew exactly what to do and didn’t skip a beat, according to the State Patrol.

They were working on a storm drain in the freeway median about 8:30 a.m., when they saw a green Toyota Corolla hit a Jersey barrier on Mercer Island. They found the driver unconscious and immediately pulled him out of the car. When they lost the man’s pulse, Whalen positioned him and cleared his airway; while Palacios started chest compressions. Both were trained and certified in CPR – Whalen as an EMT and Palacio as a U.S. Air Force firefighter.

"I heard him kind of breathing, but it was more of a gurgle," Whalen told the Seattle Times after paramedics rushed the man to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, where he was stable Friday afternoon.

Merlino Project Engineer Patrick Hafferty said the driver was lucky that two people as well trained as Whalen and Palacios were at the scene and ready to help. Merlino requires foreman to have company-provided first-aid certification, but it’s not uncommon for laborers like Whalen to obtain emergency and medical training outside of work.

“These guys are kinda local heroes here,” Hafferty said. “I don’t think they thought twice about it. That’s exactly what our company is all about – going above and beyond what’s expected.”

Safety is always a priority, said Bryant Bullamore, our project engineer for the I-90 Two-Way Transit and HOV Operations Project, which Whalen and Palacio were working on at the time. But it’s hard to anticipate something like this. “These guys deserve a lot of respect, not just for running to help, but for knowing what to do and never hesitating.”

What to do was never a question, Palacio said. "If you are trained and have the opportunity to use that training, why not if it's going to save a life?"

Photo of the overturned semi-truck that caused delays on I-90 on April 22.

by guest blogger Meagan McFadden

 WOW what a difference a weekend can make. An overturned semi-truck carrying onions may have had drivers in tears due to a closure of westbound I -90 near the summit of Snoqualmie Pass for hours last Friday, April 22. Drivers traveling eastbound were also caught up in delays associated with a traffic shift due to construction on a project to replace broken and deteriorating concrete between Cle Elum and Easton.

Hopefully, this weekend onions won’t be flying and blocking I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. However, the traffic shifts near the I-90 Lake Easton to Big Creek project between Cle Elum and Easton will still be in place. What does this mean for you the driver or passenger? Plan ahead. We see a significant increase in traffic traveling eastbound over I-90 on Fridays. It must be all of you trying to get out of the rain and into the sun. To try and lessen the impact to traffic, we are going to keep two lanes eastbound and one lane westbound open on Fridays. We will be doing the same on Sunday, but in reverse. We will have two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound open. You will need to plan for at least an hour of added travel time, maybe more. It all depends on if there are any incidents, like flying onions that will cause additional back-ups and delays. This traffic shift will be in place until Memorial Day. Then we will make sure the lane shifts are done at night to reduce delays for your summer travel plans.

Also be aware, that crews will continue to chip away at the rock slopes near the snowshed east of Snoqualmie Pass with rock blasting. These controlled blasting operations will resume in May and will make room for us to widen I-90 from four to six lanes. You will need to plan for hour-long closures until late October. Crews will perform blasting operations Monday through Thursday an hour before sunset. Drivers should check our What’s Happening on I-90 website for specific blasting dates and times or follow us on Twitter.

Summer is here, which means the orange of construction is all over. The more you know and plan ahead before you head out the door the better off you will be!

From guest blogger Jeff Switzer

Sideways rain in Grays Harbor last weekend couldn’t stop more than 200 people from cheering the start of construction on the SR 520 pontoon project in Aberdeen. Gusts from the coast that roared up Saturday only underscored the need for project everyone was celebrating: The aging SR 520 floating bridge on Lake Washington is vulnerable to windstorms and we are going to replace it.

The 33 pontoons – giant floating concrete boxes – to be built in Aberdeen starting this year will form the backbone of a replacement bridge.

Local carpenters and trades workers turned out to celebrate, saying they’re ready to start earning paychecks on the project. We’ve been working hard to get started on construction, and Grays Harbor is eager for the work. The $367 million project will ramp up to 300 direct construction jobs later this year.

Work starts this week on a casting basin – a big bathtub of a work zone on Grays Harbor. The basin will be connected to the water so new pontoons – many as long as a football field – can be built in the basin, floated out and towed to Seattle. They’ll each be three stories tall and narrow enough to fit through the Ballard Locks when complete. Some of the 33 new pontoons will weigh 11,000 tons each – as much as 23 Boeing 747s.

Take a look at our step-by-step guide to building a floating bridge to see what we have planned starting in 2012.

The same windstorm that hit the coast this weekend also sent high winds hammering the SR 520 floating bridge, giving a timely reminder why building a new bridge is so important. Since 1993, we’ve repaired about 30,000 feet of cracks in the pontoons to keep the bridge afloat and safe for traffic – but it’s time to build a stronger replacement bridge. It’s scheduled to open to traffic by the end of 2014.

Check out the Flickr photos, our YouTube video or our project page for more about the project.

by guest blogger Jeff Adamson

Working on the side of the road is one of the greatest hazards our construction crews deal with. Just the other day we received an email with a story that we thought was worth telling  from the project inspector on the SR 285 Senator George Sellar Bridge project in Wenatchee: "Yesterday afternoon a vehicle struck the QMB.  It was a hit and run.  There were two ironworkers (70’ +- off the deck) in the man lift just past the point of impact.  They reported hearing a thud and seeing the vehicle regain control.  The QMB probably just saved two lives.  It goes to show that the QMB was a great idea and a good investment!"

What is a QMB?  It stands for “Quick-change, Movable Barrier”.  The SR 285 Sellar Bridge project that’s adding a new eastbound lane is one of the first projects in the state that has utilized this relatively new technology for separating traffic from the construction crews.  The benefit of the QMB is that it can be put in place, and then moved (up to 18’) in a matter of minutes instead of the hours required to place/remove traditional concrete jersey barrier.  In the case of the Sellar Bridge project, the majority of the work had been done during night time hours so 4 lanes would be open during the high volume traffic hours.  A special vehicle put the QMB sections in place each evening and moved them to shoulder each morning until December when night work ended.  Since it’s too cold for any concrete work over the winter, only some daytime iron work is continuing as weather allows.  So, until spring, the QMB has been placed to keep traffic off the new lane, providing the necessary space for the work underway preparing for completion of the last piece of the project – a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge facility being added to the structure outside the bridge rail, next to the new lane. (We made room for the new lane on the existing bridge by removing the sidewalks.)

This event last Wednesday (Jan. 12) reconfirms, for us, the value of the emphasis on safety we maintain and justifies the expense for things like QMB instead of plastic traffic cones.
For more information on the Project: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR285/EastGeorgeSellerBridge/

By guest blogger Steve Peer

For months, Renton resident Tami Green watched construction on I-405 in her Renton neighborhood. When she learned that WSDOT was building a new on-ramp to northbound I-405 from Talbot Road, she realized her daily commute from Renton to Bellevue would be vastly improved because she wouldn’t have to go through downtown Renton to get on the freeway further north. She figured it would reduce her commute by 5-10 minutes each way. As the ramp began to materialize, she made an unusual wager with her boyfriend. She bet she would be the first to drive on the ramp.

So Green called someone with the City of Renton who immediately contacted us. We loved her idea of having a citizen open up a road so Tami became our honored guest. After all, we make improvements for real people, like Green, so it was a perfect fit.

On December 21 crews opened the new I-405 interchange and lanes to traffic in Renton as part of the Renton Stage 2 project. Tami Green was on hand to be the first to use the northbound on-ramp. She waved to construction workers, officials from the City of Renton and WSDOT as she was escorted by Renton Police vehicles onto I-405. The motorcycle police peeled off just before entering I-405.

And Tami Green was the first to drive onto I-405 from the new on-ramp.

The new $83.7 million project adds a new southbound off-ramp to Talbot Road (exit #3) and a new on-ramp to northbound I-405 plus additional lanes in each direction of I-405 between SR 167 and SR 169 and helps to relieve congestion. Crews worked day and night to finish project nine months ahead of schedule – welcome news for many who have been watching construction progress in Renton.

December 21 was a good day for Tami…and it was good day for many other drivers. Since opening the project to traffic, we’ve received quite a few notes from drivers and residents in Renton who tell us the new interchange has shaved time off their commute. Tami told us the new ramps have reduced her commute by eight minutes. Have you tried the new intersection? We want to hear from you about your experience – please leave a comment below.

It makes sense that most of the projects we take on are about improving traffic or driver safety. And if you follow our news, you may also notice that when you hear about us doing something off of our highways or freeways, it’s usually to improve fish and wildlife habitat. Well, this weekend we’re celebrating the end of a project that’s about improving the environment for many of our human neighbors in Seattle.

Residents living along I-5 in Seattle’s Green Lake and Licton Springs have experienced increasingly louder levels of noise coming from the freeway since it was built more than 40 years ago. Back then, standards for reducing noise in the neighborhoods were lower than they are today. And as the Seattle and the Puget Sound region have grown over the past decades, there are far more tires hitting the concrete than were ever expected.

To improve the noise environment for residents of these neighborhoods, we designed and constructed three noise walls on the west side of I-5 between Fifth Avenue N.E. and N.E. 92nd Street.

We developed a great working relationship with our neighbors throughout the planning, design and construction phases. After the Legislature funded the project, we first checked in with the neighbors by conducting a poll of property owners to make sure the noise walls were something the neighborhood really wanted. The neighbors overwhelmingly said yes, and we went back to them to get their input about how the walls would look, where and how tall they would be, and ways that we could even save more trees during construction.

Now we want to say thanks for the help and the patience and we hope things are a little quieter from now on. We’ve invited residents that live near the brand new noise walls to join us this Saturday, April 18, to commemorate the improvement to the neighborhood.

Here are the details:

• 10 a.m., Saturday, April 18.
• Dead end of Latona Avenue N.E. just north of N.E. 77th Street.

Post written by: Michelle Mouton

Follow up, here is a video of the event:

WSDOT contractor crews wrapped up a busy weekend of work on southbound Interstate 5 between Stewart Street and Interstate 90 in downtown Seattle. Crews are repairing 40-year-old concrete which is deteriorating and falling apart. Broken concrete means tough traveling for drivers and freight haulers. We want to keep our economy moving.

This weekend crews replaced 41 broken and concrete panels and reopened lanes four hours ahead of the 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 16 target.

But the real story is in the numbers and comes from drivers themselves who plugged in, paid attention and took alternate routes this week. The following statistics come from day-to-day comparisons from 2008 to 2009.

By the numbers

• On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14 and 15, nearly 60 percent of the drivers who usually take I-5 and cross I-5 south of Mercer Street did something different. They took SR 99, local streets, I-405 or stayed home. Sixty percent is an extraordinarily large number! That means more than half of you didn’t take I-5. This might be one for the record books at WSDOT.
• On Saturday, Feb. 14, 8 percent more drivers used the express lanes to get into Seattle than on the same day last year. We have found in the past that the express lanes are the hardest working lanes that too few people use. Only at 10 a.m. did the express lanes take longer to travel than the mainline.
• On Saturday, Feb. 14, we saw a 23 percent jump in drivers using I-405 as an alternate route to I-5. That is exactly what we wanted. We hoped that drivers traveling through Seattle would take I-405 so drivers traveling to Seattle could use I-5.
• Back ups on the mainline never reached more than 45 minutes and that was at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
• The longest back ups Saturday occurred at 1:30 in the express lanes and at 4 p.m. on the mainline.
• The longest backs up on Sunday occurred at 1:30 in the express lanes and 11 a.m. on mainline.
  

What else did we see?

• Nearly two-thirds of drivers did not use I-5 to get to I-90. They crossed the lake on SR 520 or they used I-405 from Lynnwood and avoided the bridges altogether.
• We also saw a 48 percent jump in drivers who used the I-90 exit from I-5 to get off and then back on I-5 after the work zone. It’s called a collector-distributor ramp. It functions like a long bypass. That helped lower the traffic numbers in that second construction zone near I-90.
• It was the same story on Sunday.
  

Drivers listened to the radio and make smart choices. During the carjacking on I-5 Saturday the I-5 mainline was closed for the investigation. Drivers used the express lanes and SR 99 to get around the pinch point and made it to their destinations.

What’s next
We will close northbound I-5 this weekend from Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. through Monday, Feb. 23 at 5 a.m. just south of the I-90 interchange. We hope drivers will do a great job again this weekend.

Watch this spot for your traffic congestion report card next Monday.

Check the Web for the latest info in case things change:
www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009