World Cup ends, Seattle traffic to begin: 'Revive I-5' work resumes this week
Revive I-5 construction restarts after World Cup
Now that all the local matches are over, construction crews are preparing for a busy summer of freeway construction in the Seattle area.
SEATTLE - With the last of the Seattle World Cup matches done, following Team USA's loss to Belgium on Monday, now comes the traffic. Road crews will hit the highway this week to resume "Revive I-5" work.
The major preservation and repair project of the 66-year-old Interstate 5 will continue, beginning on Friday. This will cause disruptions to traffic flow through Seattle that, in some places, will last through 2027.
Seattle traffic jam seen from Rizal Park, 2018. (Ron Clausen // CC BY-SA 4.0) ((Ron Clausen // CC BY-SA 4.0))
People driving along Ship Canal Bridge will see a noticeable shift as two right lanes will shut down through the end of 2026.
"We really need to repair the ship canal bridge. It hasn’t had repairs in about 40 years and anybody who drives they can see the different patches on the bridge," said WSDOT Spokesperson Tim Pearce.
"We’ve actually had to do more than 200 emergency repairs out there since 2019," Pearce continued.
I-5 closures in place for Revive I-5 work in Seattle
What's next:
Beginning on Friday, July 10, northbound I-5 lanes will close near I-90 at 5 a.m. This closure will remain in effect until Monday, July 13.
During this upcoming closure, the express lanes will be northbound-only for 24 hours a day, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
On July 13, when the freeway reopens, the Ship Canal Bridge will be down to two lanes. This will trigger 24-hour-a-day northbound express lanes until the end of the year.
The northbound work will be completed by later this year, then they’ll get started on the southbound work in 2027, and that is expected to be finished by late 2027.
"That means that we’re going to reduce the southbound i-5 to two lanes and when we do that work, we’ll have the express lanes southbound that whole time," WSDOT's Pearce said in an interview with FOX 13's Shirah Matsuzawa.
Ship Canal Bridge along I-5 in Seattle, Wash. (FOX 13 Seattle)
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The Source: Information in this story came from the Washington State Department of Transportation and FOX 13 Seattle interviews with WSDOT employees.