Is our Tacoma I-5 traffic nightmare nearly over? Well ...

Question: I saw a headline somewhere that said there’s “an end in sight to Tacoma’s traffic nightmare.” Is that true? Please say it is.

Answer: Depends on your definition of “in sight.”

Some of the soul-crushing projects on Interstate 5 through the Tacoma Dome area will end soon, but another big one is set to start in February and last nearly three years.

The headline in question was posted Nov. 5 by Q13 Fox News: “After 18 years, there’s an end in sight to Tacoma’s traffic nightmare.”

We have to admit that tease made our heart go pitter-pat. We here at Traffic Q&A Headquarters have spent a number — a high, high number — of hours sitting in traffic on I-5 near the T-dome, so we eagerly clicked the Q13 link.

The story led this way:

“Tacoma has dealt with construction on I-5 for two decades, but the good news for commuters, all those construction cones are going to be gone soon as construction nears its final few projects.”

It then segued into an interview with a fellow who travels I-5 through Tacoma regularly, who dutifully recounted his frustrations and hopes for the future.

“I venture to say this is the worst stretch of freeway I have to deal with,” Chris Crow told the Seattle-based news outlet.

You won’t get an argument here, but the contention that the pain is nearly over is, well, debatable.

We asked Cara Mitchell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, for an update.

It’s true, Mitchell said, that three major projects through the Tacoma area are in the mop-up phase. They are:

▪ I-5 M Street to Portland Avenue HOV, which replaced pavement and widened the freeway to add carpool lanes and other improvements.

▪ I-5 Portland Avenue to Port of Tacoma Road-northbound HOV, which replaced the northbound I-5 Puyallup River bridge and made other improvements.

▪ I-5-state Route 16 realignment-HOV structure and connections, which is adding ramps and overpasses to tie I-5 carpool lanes to those on state Route 16.

The HOV projects are in their “final weeks now,” Mitchell said, and the connections project is scheduled to be finished “next year — summer time frame.”

To that we say, “Huzzah!”

But there’s a doozy on the horizon: I-5 Portland Avenue to Port of Tacoma Road-southbound HOV.

Yes, southbound, which already is a mess, particularly in the afternoon and early evening when our friends who live in Pierce County but earn their livings to the north begin returning home.

That project will cost about $325 million. The work will begin in February and take until the end of 2021 to complete.

“The most notable work to occur in this project is building a new southbound Puyallup River Bridge that will be straighter and wider than the existing bridge,” according to the project website. “Both of these features are improvements that will help traffic move more smoothly through the area.”

Other work includes:

▪ Modifying the Port of Tacoma on-ramp to southbound I-5.

▪ Demolishing the I-5 bridges over the Puyallup River.

▪ Demolishing and rebuilding the L Street overpass that crosses I-5.

▪ Replacing the concrete road surface from McKinley Avenue to Portland Avenue.

Will that work continue the Tacoma traffic nightmare? Is nearly three years a short time frame?

We’ll leave those judgments to you, dear reader, but in our book that’s a yes and a no.

This story was originally published November 11, 2018 at 8:00 AM.