RENTON, Wash. — If you’re driving this weekend, prepare yourself for a big mess.
A key section of Interstate 405 is shut down for construction work - and it will have a major impact on almost all surround highways, roads and bridges.
For 33 hours this weekend, Interstate 405 will be closed in both directions between Highway 167 and the Maple Valley Highway (Highway 169). Crews closed all lanes of I-405 at 2 a.m. Saturday. The road is expected to re-open at 11 a.m. Sunday. CLICK HERE to view map of closure.0
I-405 Renton: Avoid the Curve
Freeway closed July 10-11
What is WSDOT doing?
Be prepared for one of the biggest construction closures of summer 2010. WSDOT and its contractor, I-405 Corridor Design-Builders (CDB), will remove the old Benson Road S. Bridge in Renton and shift traffic to the new Benson Road S. Bridge. The bridge removal is part of the I-405 Renton Stage 2 Project.
In order to keep drivers and crews safe, we will completely close all lanes in both directions of I-405 in Renton during the bridge removal. We need your help to keep traffic moving and to avoid major backups.
When: 2 a.m. Saturday, July 10 - 11 a.m. Sunday, July 11
Where: Both directions of I-405 between Maple Valley Highway (SR 169) and SR 167.
Sara doesn’t drive Interstate 405 very often, so she’s not familiar with all the exits and on-ramps. Recently, when trying to get to a restaurant, she was following directions to take the northbound state Route 167 exit from northbound I-405. But there were no signs along the freeway for northbound state Route 167 and she wound up missing the right exit.
She saw a sign for southbound state Route 167; and signs for Rainier Avenue and another street. Then, a Jersey barrier separated her from the following two marked exit lanes. At the end of the Jersey barrier, she noticed another sign for Rainier Avenue that also was marked for northbound state Route 167, but it was too late by then. “We had to go an extra mile- and-a-half north to get off and backtrack where we had been. If I’d been alone and hadn’t had a navigator with me, I would have been completely screwed,” she writes.
“I imagine the folks who drive it all the time know what to do, but those of us that are not there all the time are clueless,” she says.
by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News
Posted on April 12, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Updated Monday, Apr 12 at 5:58 PM
After running down a steep highway construction project, the bathtub sounds pretty good. And that is just where storm water runoff from a project on Interstate 405 in Renton is heading.
It may look like just a pile of rocks, but State Department of Transportation engineers call it the environmental bathtub. Water running off the steep hillside above the project washes over the site and could carry harmful silt to a small creek below. And since that creek leads to the Green River, where protected salmon spawn, it must be cleaned.
As we said before. Just when we were getting used to I-405 actually moving, the idiots in Olympia are going to increase the carpool lane requirements from 2 to 3.
They just don’t get it. Vote them all out and start over.
Just when most of us have gotten used to using the “Coal Creek/I-90″ lane on Northbound I-405, our “represenatives” in Olympia are considering clogging the freeway up again. Can’t they leave well enough alone?
Tolling Interstate 405 Needs a Closer Look
House Bill 2941 was proposed during the current Legislative Session. The bill would authorize the use of express toll lanes on Interstate 405 (I-405).1 The bill is vague and presumably relies on a study that does not adequately compare toll lanes to a no-build option. The legislature should request a full and complete comparison to a no-build option before authorizing the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to build express toll lanes on I-405.
RENTON, Wash. – If you’re planning to take southbound I-405 through Renton to get to the Mariners or Sounders game this weekend, prepare to use alternate routes or expect long delays. Traffic will be funneled into two lanes as crews close the southbound I-405 carpool lane between SR 167 and the West Valley Highway to pave the I-405 bridge over Oakesdale Avenue SW in Renton.
