This two-year rehabilitation project will replace 56 expansion joints and repave 1.25 miles of southbound I-5 between I-90 and Spokane Street. This project is one of dozens that make up Revive I-5, which will rehabilitate the I-5 corridor in the King County area in the next 10 years.

The next weekend of work on southbound I-5 from I-90 to Spokane Street is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, and finish by 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22.Crews will replace expansion joints on the right side of southbound I-5 south of where the collector/distributor rejoins mainline I-5. This will require several changes:

During construction, people who drive this section of I-5 should consider:

This is one of about 15 weekends with lane reductions between now and fall 2022.

During 2022 southbound I-5 will have weekend-long lane closures and night closures between I-90 and Spokane Street in 2022 so crews can replace 35 expansion joints on the freeway and 10 on- or off-ramps. In 2021 we repaved this 1.25-mile section of the freeway and replaced several expansion joints.

Expansion joints run across the width of the freeway allowing sections to expand and contract with weather and to flex under the weight of heavy vehicles. It takes about 55 hours to chip out and remove a series of old joints, place the new one and allow concrete to cure around it. Replacing these expansion joints during scheduled closures reduces the chances a joint will break and require an emergency closure.

Paving is complete; this was the first repaving of the 1.25-mile section of southbound I-5 between I-90 and Spokane Street. The freeway originally was paved more than 55 years ago. After all this time is has ruts from vehicle traffic. To repave, crews ground off the higher spots, then poured a new layer of concrete for the new driving surface. This improves safety by helping to prevent water from pooling.

Tom Pearce WSDOT communications 206-440-4696 tom.pearce@wsdot.wa.gov

as recorded by WSDOT and partners in 2020 and 2021.

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