By Mike Lindblom
The Seattle Times
Drivers will be pumping the brake pedal this weekend on several highways in King and Snohomish counties, whether your favorite route goes north, south, east or west.
Three major closures are planned to fix or repave road decks, a fourth is related to transit construction, and a fifth will relocate two Highway 99 lanes in Sodo — which the state is hyping as a prelude to a bigger fall shutdown.
Meanwhile, a Seattle Sounders FC match Saturday evening against Chicago, as well as Sunday’s Pride Parade on Fourth Avenue, will bring travelers into the city.
• Highway 2: The westbound trestle and onramps, from Lake Stevens into Everett, will close for repaving from 7 p.m. Friday until 4 a.m. Monday.
• Interstate 5: Northbound traffic on the Ship Canal Bridge will be reduced to two lanes from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday mornings, for deck patching.
New video by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) shows how workers squirt epoxy and sprinkle gravel to form a fast-drying gray compote. To completely re-deck the bridge would require $55 million that’s unavailable in the budget until at least 2026, WSDOT says.
• Interstate 90 tunnel: The Mount Baker tunnel’s eastbound side will shrink to two lanes from 7 p.m. Friday until noon Saturday, then from 6 p.m. Saturday until noon Sunday. Two drain covers and seals are being replaced, to better withstand the weight of vehicles, said spokeswoman Lisa Van Cise. (The roadway was revised last year to add a high-occupancy vehicle lane, which spreads general traffic onto a former shoulder.)
• Interstate 90 Snoqualmie Pass: Ongoing concrete replacement west of the summit will continue to close lanes, often subjecting summer drivers to delays between one and two hours either direction.
In addition, work just started to repair rutted panels eastbound, causing single- or double-lane closures and a 55-mph limit, between Issaquah and North Bend.
• Alaskan Way Viaduct: The highway will close southbound from 9 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday, from Battery Street to the West Seattle Bridge, so a short stretch of temporary southbound lanes near the stadiums can be shifted about 30 feet east, into their permanent position.
The Battery Street Tunnel itself will stay open, for trips between the north end and Belltown.
As soon as October, drivers will face a full three-week closure both ways while ramps are connected to the new bypass tunnel. Highway 99’s famous Puget Sound view, along with mid-downtown and Belltown exits, will permanently disappear. New interchanges will open at the stadiums and near Mercer Street near the tunnel portals.
Meanwhile, the lower Spokane Street Bridge into West Seattle remains under emergency closure, while city crews diagnose a hydraulic-fluid leak in one of the pivoting columns. This shutdown severs the bike trail to Alki Beach this weekend, but the city will provide a bike shuttle van for weekday commuters.
