The southbound lanes of the Interstate 5 Bridge will close overnight Thursday, March 29, for repairs. Crews will finish fixing rollers that guide the huge counterweights up and down the bridge towers during a lift, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Traffic will be detoured during what amounts to a six-hour bridge lift. The southbound span will remain raised for the duration of the closure between 11 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday, according to ODOT. Initial lane closures will begin at 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
Last week, bridge crews discovered two rollers that had detached from their track. An early assessment of the problem and a temporary fix caused a series of lifts at that time, intermittently stopping southbound I-5 traffic.
Thursday night’s work is the first of two stages to repair the faulty rollers for good. Crews will wrap up the project next week, according to ODOT.
Motorists heading south from Vancouver will have to take Interstate 205 to cross the Columbia River during the closure. The sidewalk on the southbound side of the I-5 Bridge will also close.
