Lane closures on Seattle's Aurora Bridge

Crews are starting work on the historic bridge that will close lanes and likely cause major back-ups. The work begins at 7 p.m. Friday (May 31) and ends Monday morning. It will be down to one lane in each direction. WSDOT officials say the bridge is 88 years old and needs a lot of work, like repainting and repaving. With a busy weekend of events in Seattle -- like the Mariners game on Saturday -- WSDOT is advising drivers to find a different way into and out of the city. "We expect to see back ups from this," said Tom Pearce, a WSDOT spokesman. "It's really up to what drivers decide to do. We could see back ups that reach to the tunnel or up to Green Lake. If drivers choose to use alternate routes we'll see fewer backups. If people drive the highway like they want to, we'll see bigger back ups." This won't be the only weekend lanes are shut down on the Aurora Bridge. There will be intermittent lane closures throughout the summer. The next weekend closures will be June 14-17.