No more stuck trucks. Construction begins on taller I-5 overpass in Pierce County
Never try to put 10 pounds of flour in a 5-pound sack, as the saying goes. For semi-truck drivers, that expression could be updated to never drive a 13-foot-tall trailer underneath a 12-foot-high bridge.
Yet, they continue to do it. But not for long.
A semi-truck got stuck under Interstate 5 at Pendleton Avenue on Nov. 3 when its operator drove underneath the overpass and promptly got jammed. The incident is the fourth bridge strike this year at the overpass, according to WSDOT, and the ninth since 1993.
That truck-eating bridge will be gone when the state Department of Transportation’s I-5 Mounts Road to Steilacoom-DuPont Road Corridor Improvements project is completed three years from now. The Pendleton Avenue overpass is one part of the larger project.
In addition to the new Pendleton bridge, Interstate 5 will have a taller, wider and safer overpass in DuPont to more easily connect with Joint Base Lewis-McChord when the project is completed. The project will also build a new roundabout and add more miles of HOV lanes on I-5.
Under construction
The first stage of the $202 million project is now under construction.
Beginning the week of Nov. 27, WSDOT contractor Atkinson Construction will close two lanes of northbound I-5, one lane of southbound I-5 and several ramps overnight as they install guardrails and maintenance-vehicle pullouts at the Steilacoom-DuPont interchange.
Workers are building the road that will connect the interchange to the roundabout on Steilacoom-DuPont Road.
In early 2024, drivers on I-5 will see construction ramp up considerably, said WSDOT spokesperson Doug Adamson.
New overpass
The existing circa 1957 I-5/Steilacoom-DuPont Road overpass at milepost 119 will be torn down and rebuilt as a diverging diamond overpass. A diverging diamond interchange has traffic switch sides to facilitate freeway entry.
The new bridge will pass over railroad tracks. It will have a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Pendleton bridge, with its 12-foot-4-inch clearance, will be replaced with a version that has more than 16 feet of clearance. Crews were able to free the wedged-in truck on Nov. 4 by deflating its tires, WSDOT said.
HOV lanes
The new Steilacoom-DuPont Road overpass will allow for the I-5 road bed to be widened in order for Atkinson to build the HOV lanes.
The northbound HOV lane will be extended to 3.5 miles from Mounts Road (Exit 116) to where it currently begins just before 41st Division Drive at milepost 120. The lane currently ends at Gravelly Lake Drive.
The southbound HOV lane will be extended to nearly 4 miles from its current end at 41st Division Drive (Exit 120) to the Steilacoom-DuPont interchange (Exit 119). It currently starts near the Thorne Lane and Berkeley Street exit.
The project will also add a northbound auxiliary lane on I-5 between Center Drive and Steilacoom-DuPont Road.
Project funding was approved by the Washington State Legislature in the 2015 Connecting Washington transportation revenue package.
