Ramp connecting Tacoma’s East Side to I-5 to be closed longer than expected

Wet weather has slowed progress on a project to rebuild the ramp from state Route 7 to northbound Interstate 5 in Tacoma, the state Department of Transportation reported Wednesday.

That means the ramp, which is one of the key routes between the East Side and I-5, will remain closed longer than anticipated. Crews had hoped to open the new ramp at the end of the month.

That opening date has been pushed into April, said Cara Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. A date has not been announced.

“Since March 1, crews have saw-cut and removed over 500 truckloads of soil and concrete, and have installed new drainage, lighting and electrical systems,” Mitchell wrote in a news release. “They have started constructing the new ramp, but they require dry weather to successfully build an embankment and pave and stripe the new ramp.”

Traffic is being detoured via that parallel collector-distributor lanes and onto Interstate 705 and state Route 509 before rejoining northbound I-5.

The work is part of a long-running project to widen and rebuild the surface of I-5 through Tacoma.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Ramp connecting Tacoma’s East Side to I-5 to be closed longer than expected."