Where weekend work will clog I-5 and block 520 ramps

SEATTLE — For a third time, contractors will close three lanes of southbound Interstate 5 over the weekend at the Tukwila city limits to replace or repair worn-out concrete deck panels.

This time, the work moves to the left side, next to the Highway 900/Martin Luther King Jr. Way South interchange. All exits and entrances will stay open.

Highway reductions are scheduled from 11 p.m. Friday until 4 a.m. Monday.

Last weekend, a similar closure caused Saturday afternoon congestion, where drivers found stop-and-go conditions for 3 miles, starting near Boeing Field.

This is the third of 13 weekend lane shutdowns between South Seattle and Tukwila scheduled this year, as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation’s “Revive I-5” project in King and Snohomish counties, where the freeway opened in the 1960s. During the first two weekends, crews replaced 72 panels of concrete, said WSDOT spokesperson Amy Moreno.

In other work, Montlake Boulevard above Highway 520, and all of its ramps, will close this weekend from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday. Signs and traffic signals will be installed, along with pavement, at the intersection over 520, said spokesperson Steve Peer.

Drivers should heed WSDOT’s detour signs, he said, so they don’t enter Highway 520 in hopes of going to Montlake, then wind up driving all the way across Lake Washington, only to turn back and pay a toll both ways.

Sound Transit’s light rail corridor is back to normal service in Seattle and SeaTac, following some rail rebuilding downtown that slashed train capacity for three weeks. Trains arrive every 10 minutes most weekend hours.