Prepare to detour or just stay home when 5 miles of I-5 close this weekend near Fife
When Interstate 5 reopens Sunday morning after two back-to-back overnight closures, it will have 10 new concrete girders spanning it in Fife.
While that transformation is occurring, nighttime drivers will have to find other ways around the state Department of Transportation project that’s building a new 70th Avenue East bridge.
Five miles of I-5 will be closed between Fife and Federal Way both Friday and Saturday nights.
The closures are needed to allow cranes onto both directions of the freeway where they will hoist 220-foot-long bridge girders into place. Five girders will be installed each night.
The girders, each weighing 230,000 pounds, were manufactured at Concrete Technology Corp. in Tacoma. The trucks and their cargo will each be 250-feet-long. Without the company’s proximity to the construction site, the feat wouldn’t be possible, said WSDOT spokeswoman Laura Newborn.
“It’s a pretty careful drive to I-5, but it’s pretty spectacular,” she said.
The new four-lane overpass (with pedestrian and bike lane) will connect with state Route 99 via a roundabout, which is also under construction. The project should open in summer 2021.
Then, the existing two-lane 70th Avenue East overpass to the east (north by I-5 designation) will be demolished.
That clears the way to build a state Route 167 and I-5 diverging diamond interchange.
It’s all part of WSDOT’s SR 167 Completion Project. The project aims to build the last four miles of Route 167 between Meridian in Puyallup and I-5 in Fife.
The project will eventually head north two miles from I-5 into the Port of Tacoma. Completion is targeted for 2028.
Detour routes
WSDOT scheduled the work during the least busy times on I-5. But, they still estimate a possible 2-mile backup on I-5.
WSDOT is suggesting two detour routes.
For those traveling north and south of Tacoma, use state Routes 512, 167 and 18.
Travelers within the greater Tacoma area can take state Route 99 between 54th Avenue East in Fife and South 348th/Route 18 in Federal Way.
I-5 closure times
(Closed between 54th Avenue East in Fife to state Route 18 in Federal Way)
▪ 11 p.m. Aug. 28 to 8 a.m. Aug. 29
▪ 11 p.m. Aug. 29 to 8 a.m. Aug. 30
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 7:50 AM.
