Clark County’s Thursday commute got off to what is becoming a routine start this morning, with early southbound slowing in Vancouver as traffic approaches the Interstate 5 Bridge and later northbound slowing in north Portland.
In the afternoon, as with every day this week, the southbound commute backed up to north of state Highway 500 in the afternoon.
North and southbound traffic are sharing the southbound span of the I-5 bridge during repairs to the northbound span’s trunnion. The project reduces southbound traffic to two lanes in the morning and one lane in the evening. At noon, crews shift a median to allow two northbound lanes and one southbound lane for the afternoon commute.
Wednesday’s afternoon commute saw extra challenges because of heavy rain in Southwest Washington.
Due to water over the roadway, the northbound I-5 offramp to the City Center exit was closed. The rainwater pooled in the median between the southbound and northbound sections of the freeway, according to WSDOT spokeswoman Celeste Dimichina, right where northbound drivers would need to cut across to reach the City Center exit ramp. The median barrier normally directs rainwater to flow along the shoulder of the freeway, she said, but that section of the barrier was removed as part of the temporary reconfiguration of the freeway during the I-5 Bridge repair project.
