Delayed: Construction of temporary interchange to allow Route 16 traffic to go west on 38th Street

New but temporary lane configurations on Interstate 5 and state Route 16 in Tacoma that were scheduled to start in mid-October have been pushed back to 2019, the state Department of Transportation has announced.

“Contractor Skanska, working as both designer and builder of the project, now expects to do the traffic shift and modify the interchange starting in early 2019,” DOT said in a release.

The planned closures and detours are part of a big construction project that’s adding HOV lanes to the freeways in Tacoma.

Beginning sometime in early 2019, the ramp onto eastbound South 38th Street will close for 30 days while crews build a new, but temporary, interchange that will give Route 16 drivers access to westbound 38th Street.

In addition, lanes on Route 16 that exit onto I-5 were scheduled to switch places temporarily and the southbound I-5 entrance from Sprague Avenue was also being closed temporarily. Those changes are now scheduled for 2019.

“The work will resume after the holiday shopping season, but an exact date has not yet been set,” DOT said.

Closures and detours are posted at Tacomatraffic.com.

This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 3:02 PM.