Northbound traffic will be restricted to one lane this evening across the Interstate 5 bridge spanning the North Fork of the Lewis River near Woodland.
The double-lane closure will begin at 8 p.m. and continue until midnight, said Abbi Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation in Vancouver. Workers closed the right lane on the bridge earlier today to repair a pothole, but Russell said a newly developing pothole in the center lane prompted DOT officials to undertake a temporary repair this evening. The bridge accommodates 64,000 vehicles a day on average, Russell said.
Russell said workers will install plywood and pour concrete into a temporary form. She said workers will wait for better weather to make a more permanent repair; rain is in the forecast for Friday.
“It’ll just get us through the rain until we can do the permanent fix,” she said.
The bridge deck is comprised of concrete and a 7-inch grid of rebar atop steel girders, meaning it’s possible to glimpse the river if the pothole is big enough.
