Construction crews Saturday will open a fourth northbound lane on Interstate 5 between Northeast 134th and Northeast 179th streets. The lane will open by 6 a.m., according to the Washington Department of Transportation, after crews complete striping on the freeway.
Workers are widening both sides of the freeway as part of the $130 million Salmon Creek Interchange Project, reshaping the northern convergence of I-5 and Interstate 205. A new southbound lane will open later this summer, according to WSDOT, expanding I-5 to four lanes in each direction.
Construction through the Salmon Creek area has pushed traffic to the outside of the I-5 corridor while crews excavated the median and built the new lanes between 134th and 179th. The overall project aims to reduce congestion through an area that sees about 85,000 drivers per day, according to WSDOT.
The WSDOT-Clark County partnership has also improved local roads near the freeway. The project’s final stage will build a new interchange at Northeast 139th Street, set to start construction this summer. Spokane-based Max J. Kuney Co. was awarded a $43.4 million contract for that work this past week.
