#12. I-5, Salmon Creek to I-205 | |
Cost: $25,920,957 (original contract)
Interstate 5, Mile Post 3.64 to 7.49, Vancouver Start of construction: Aug. 20, 2003 Expected completion date: Fall 2005 Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation |
Description The Interstate 5 Salmon Creek to Interstate 205 project focuses on widening the freeway to three lanes and adding an auxiliary lane in each direction. It is the third in a series of four projects geared towards improving traffic flow along I-5 through Vancouver. The project is being built over a 2-mile stretch between the Northeast 99th Street Interchange and I-205 junction. The expansion will create safer vehicle travel by providing more space for vehicles to navigate, and will have improved structures that meet current design and seismic standards. Auxiliary lanes will also improve room for motorists to enter and exit main travel lanes, decreasing traffic hazards. These added lanes are safety essentials, but also alleviate congestion on general use lanes. They allow drivers to adjust speed when entering and exiting the freeway, reducing the impact on the main lanes and keeping them from slowing due to merging traffic. Computer models forecast that travel speeds on the unaltered roadway would be about 42 miles per hour in the year 2010 and 26 miles per hour in 2002. Models predict that traffic will move on the widened road at 60 miles per hour in the year 2010 and 51 miles per hour in 2020. In addition to the widened roadway, the project features new bridges over Salmon Creek for both northbound and southbound lanes, as well as a new bridge over I-5 at Northeast 129th Street. An extra lane and second left-turn lane for the northbound I-5 off-ramp to Northeast 134th Street will be constructed, as well as required signal revisions for the second left-turn lane, and multiple walls and retaining structures.
The state Department of Transportation is also undertaking several environmental measures during construction, including construction of a storm water treatment facility to avoid impacting area wetlands, and building a unique cantilever retaining wall so that Tenney Creek doesn’t need to be relocated.
|
Copyright ©2004 Seattle Daily Journal and DJC.COM. Comments? Questions? Contact us. |