Weekend-long daytime double-lane closures will occur on the southbound span of the Interstate 205 bridge on the following four weekends. Transportation officials advise motorists to avoid travel into Oregon if at all possible:
o 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday: The right two lanes will be closed around the clock. Onramps from state Highway 14 to southbound I-205 will also be closed.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, until 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 9: The right two lanes will be closed around the clock. Onramps from Highway 14 to I-205 southbound will also be closed.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20, until 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 23: The left two lanes will be closed around the clock.
Weekend-long daytime double-lane closures will occur on the southbound span of the Interstate 205 bridge on the following four weekends. Transportation officials advise motorists to avoid travel into Oregon if at all possible:
o 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday: The right two lanes will be closed around the clock. Onramps from state Highway 14 to southbound I-205 will also be closed.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, until 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 9: The right two lanes will be closed around the clock. Onramps from Highway 14 to I-205 southbound will also be closed.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20, until 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 23: The left two lanes will be closed around the clock.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, until 5 a.m. Monday, Sept. 13: The left two lanes will be closed around the clock.
o 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, until 5 a.m. Monday, Sept. 13: The left two lanes will be closed around the clock.
Worried about construction-related traffic paralysis, transportation department spokespeople in Washington and Oregon have an unusual piece of advice for weekend travelers heading south:
Avoid travel.
“I wouldn’t say, ‘Don’t drive,’ ” said Brad Wurfel, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. “I’d say, ‘Drive smart. Be strategic.’ “
Two of the four southbound lanes will be closed beginning Friday night on the Interstate 205 bridge across the Columbia River. The double-lane closure will remain in effect all weekend.
Because the bridge normally accommodates an average of 140,000 vehicles per day, Washington transportation officials are bracing for backups of 10 miles or more Saturday and Sunday — from the river all the way to the point where the freeway joins together with I-5 in Salmon Creek.
“It’s going to be heartburn, that’s for sure,” said Abbi Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation in Vancouver.
Complicating the situation will be the addition of country music fans driving home after a Toby Keith concert at Sleep Country Amphitheater at about the same time work begins Friday night, and a multiday motocross event in Washougal.
If you can’t avoid it, find an alternative to Interstate 5 and I-205. Barring that, try to adjust your travel outside the peak congestion period between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Finally, if there’s no way to stay home, plan on spending plenty of time stuck in traffic.
“If people are heading to the airport, they’re either going to want to give themselves hours of extra time or take alternate routes,” Russell said.
Northbound motorists have experienced the double-lane closure since early May, since the beginning of a $5.5 million project to replace aging deck joints in the 28-year-old I-205 bridge. Workers with Eugene, Ore.-based Wildish Construction have been replacing joints in the northbound span, contributing to traffic paralysis throughout the Portland area on weekends when double-lane closures were in effect. Gridlock affected I-205. But miles-long backups also afflicted I-84 and I-5 as thousands of northbound motorists surged onto alternative routes. Motorists have reported sitting in traffic for two hours or longer.
Hazel Dell resident Chuck Steffani said it took almost three hours for him and his wife to make it home from a family get-together in Gresham, Ore., last weekend.
“It wore me out,” he said.
Now, the pain shifts to southbound motorists.
Russell said transportation officials expect 10-mile backups on I-205, which would extend as far as the freeway’s confluence with I-5 in Salmon Creek. At that point, she said, traffic conditions could get even worse.
“When you back it up to that split, no matter where people want to go, they can’t get there,” Russell said. “You can get backups to La Center or Woodland very quickly.”
Transportation officials are trying to warn people with road signs, public service announcements and direct outreach.
For example, with more than 20,000 people expected to attend this weekend’s Washougal Motocross, Wurfel said the DOT has coordinated with organizers to make public address announcements suggesting Oregon-bound visitors try detouring to the Bridge of the Gods 26 miles east of Washougal at Cascade Locks.
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551, or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
