They don't know that we know they know we know … but you will know before you go.
Because this summer, knowing is everything, especially when it comes to getting to and through Seattle. With full closures and lane reductions on northbound I-5, we're giving you the inside scoop early so you can plan ahead and travel easier.
Whether you're a Monica-level planner or more of a Joey just-going-with-it, we've got the tools to help you.
When is this happening?
May 29 marks 50 days out from a major milestone in the Revive I-5 Yesler to Northgate project: the first of two full weekend closures of northbound I-5 from the I-90 interchange to Northeast 45th Street. The July 18 closure sets the stage for four weeks of lane reductions across the Ship Canal Bridge. During all of this work, the express lanes will be open northbound 24/7.
June 20 – 23: Weekend-long lane reduction, 24 hours a day, to prepare for the four-week summer two-lane reduction.
July 18 – 21: Full northbound I-5 closure from I-90 to Northeast 45th Street to set up the work zone for the four-week lane reduction.
July 21 – Aug. 15: Four-week northbound two-lane reduction across the Ship Canal Bridge.
Aug. 15 – 18: Full northbound I-5 closure from I-90 to Northeast 45th Street to pick up the work zone.
Fall/winter: Several southbound I-5 two-lane reductions coming Work will shift to southbound I-5 lanes this fall/winter. Dates to be announced soon.
What are we doing?
During this summer's closures, contractor crews from Atkinson Construction will:
Repair and resurface about 20% of the northbound Ship Canal Bridge deck.
Partially repair five expansion joints.
Replace bridge drain inlets.
Know before you go
We get it, closing lanes on I-5 in the summer is a big deal and that's why we're here to make sure you know before you go.
We encourage you to ride transit — it's the best, most reliable way to get around and youth 18 and under ride free.
You can expect longer travel times, so consider adjusting when you travel, if you can.
Stay informed—find the most up to date info on our project website: bit.ly/ConstructionI-5
Use travel planning tools like WSDOT's app and following us on social media for the latest
Same Friends, new look
It's still us, but we've got a new look to help you find our information.
You'll see this visual identity on all project materials moving forward whether from us or our many regional partners that are playing a role in helping you move throughout the region. We'll be out and about in a neighborhood near you soon so be on the lookout for us.
The Wenatchee is one of the state’s three largest ferries. It was built in 1998. In 2023, it went to the shipyard for upgrades to help it last for many more years. When it returns, it will be North America’s largest hybrid-electric passenger vessels. Upgrades are almost done, and there are just a few more steps to get the ferry back in service this summer.
Wenatchee dockside at Vigor shipyard.
What’s new on the Wenatchee?
Crews installed an updated power system and better ship controls. This system, also called the propulsion system, moves the ferry through the water and controls its speed, direction and stopping power. They also converted Wenatchee to hybrid-electric power and did other work to preserve the ferry.
The work included:
taking out two of the four diesel generators
building two new battery rooms and outfitting them with 864 battery modules
installing new controls
installing thousands of feet of electric and fiber optic cable
painting much of the exterior of the ferry
replacing vinyl on some seats
deep cleaning
The Wenatchee car deck as seen while docked at Vigor shipyard.
What will it take to get Wenatchee back into service this summer?
Sea trials and crew training are currently underway from Vigor Shipyard. After all goes well, the U.S. Coast Guard will issue initial approvals and Washington State Ferries will take the Wenatchee back. The ferry will then be moved from the Vigor Shipyard to Eagle Harbor Shipyard on Bainbridge Island.
Skilled tradespeople at Eagle Harbor will do more work to get the ferry ready for service. Ferry crews aboard Wenatchee will complete training and conduct more sea trials to make sure it’s ready. Then the U.S. Coast Guard must give final approval. If all goes to plan, this should take an additional four to six weeks.
Crews and tradespeople are doing everything they can to get the ferry back into service. But they will not compromise quality for speed. We will keep you informed about the Wenatchee’s journey as we get ready to return the ferry to our Seattle/Bainbridge route.
Why modernize ferries?
In 2024 Washington State Ferries carried more than 19 million riders. Modernizing the aging fleet is necessary to ensure service continues and will be reliable.
Our ferries work hard for more than 20 hours per day. The average ferry in our fleet is over 35 years old. We need to modernize six ferries and build sixteen new ferries by 2040. These ferries will have modern propulsion and operating systems, hybrid-electric power, and other technologies. The return of the Wenatchee represents the first milestone in this once-in-a-generation effort. We are also pursuing the construction of new ferries, the first of which could be in service as early as 2029.
Washington State Ferries is proud of the path we’re on to build our ferry fleet of the future. We hope that you will journey along with us.
Spring is a time of new beginnings – from cherry blossoms and tulips to hatching chicks and ducklings, we see signs of new life after our long, gray winter. In Grays Harbor County, our crews witnessed such an event at a recently completed fish passage site on State Route 8 near McCleary. Remember all those adult salmon we showed you last fall? We are seeing the fruits of their labor – or at least the fruits of some more recent spawning salmon – baby fish!
Our workers saw dozens of baby coho under SR 8 in early April.
These coho salmon fry (the term for baby fish) hatched recently upstream from SR 8 near Mox Chehalis Road East. In summer 2024, we removed the small pipe culvert that blocked fish from swimming under the highway. The new culvert is a large concrete box that allows fish to access habitat that they haven’t been able to get to since the highway was originally built.
We spotted these adult fish upstream of the new culvert in fall 2024.
The stream is a tributary of Mox Chehalis Creek. It may not seem like much, but this small stream is clearly important to the ecosystem, as we can see that salmon are spawning in it. According to our partners at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the stream also supports other species of salmon, such has chum, as well as resident, steelhead and sea run cutthroat trout. And that’s just the protected fish species. For a small stream, that’s a lot of fish! It stands to reason that giving them access to even more habitat, even just a mile or so, will help them have room to thrive.
More coho fry in the stream under SR 8.
What our crews report seeing in real time is that more habitat means more fish. It’s like that disembodied voice said in that little baseball movie from the 80s, “If you build it, they will come.” This concept also applies to neighboring culverts. Sometimes there are multiple culverts making fish passage difficult or blocking it altogether in a stream but only one that we, as a state highway department, have the authority to correct. However, once we correct ours, counties, cities and even private property owners may be more likely to receive grant funding to help correct theirs.
Good news for highway users
In addition to the baby news, we have some good news for travelers on top of the highway. We expect to complete work at all five locations early. When we designed the project, we expected stream work to take two summers to complete. That meant we would start opening lanes at each site in the fall of 2025. Since our contractor, Cecannti, Inc., was able to complete all the stream work in one summer, we are able to start opening lanes early. As of Monday, May 19, traffic is now back to its original configuration with two lanes in each direction at Camp Creek in Montesano and the Mox Chehalis Creek tributary east of McCleary.
A look under the new US 12 bridges in Montesano.
Daytime lane closures will still occur as our crews complete landscaping and other final work along the roadway. This will mostly happen on weekdays, which is good news if you’re heading to the beach on a weekend. We also have to remove the large temporary light poles. Once that happens, the speed limit reduction will go away at those two sites.
That will leave only three work zones with around-the-clock lane closures. The speed limit will remain 50 mph approaching Elma from either direction. We’re working at these locations to get them to the next stage throughout spring and summer. You’ll see temporary changes to the roadway while that happens as well as some rolling slowdowns. This allows us to leave one lane open in each direction while paving and striping the closed lanes. Please don’t pass vehicles slowing traffic. They are there for your safety and to protect our workers.
When a traffic backup triggers the Queue Warning System, this electronic sign will display messages like "Traffic Backups Present", "Slow or Stopped Traffic", "Use Both Lanes, Take Turns at Merge".
Travelers will also notice the Queue Warning System moved closer to the remaining work zones approaching Elma. The Queue Warning System uses sensors to detect traffic backups and then displays messages on an electronic sign. The messages let people know what to do as they approach the work zone. We’ve seen these signs activate during busy holiday weekends, so you may notice them if you’re headed to or from the beach for Memorial Day.
Approaching the finish line
We expect to complete work at all sites in the fall. We want to thank you all for your patience. We know it’s been a long road (ha ha!), but we’ve almost arrived at our destination, and you will, too! When planning your summer trip to the beach, make sure to visit our online open house for information on all of the projects happening on the Olympic Peninsula. Check the statewide travel map and WSDOT app for real-time information before heading out the door.
SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge closed to vehicles but open for marine traffic during a boat opening. Marine openings are required by Federal law.
The State Route 104 Hood Canal Bridge is no ordinary bridge. Surrounded in salt water more than 300 feet deep, it floats like a boat on the surface of Hood Canal. On average 18,000 vehicles a day use the bridge. Communities in Jefferson and Kitsap counties use the bridge to get to appointments, work, school and vacation destinations. It’s also a key gateway for tourists who flock to the Olympic Peninsula.
Timeline
At 1 p.m. Monday, May 5, at the request of the United States Navy, we opened the bridge to allow for their boats to pass through. Per our protocols with any Department of Defense opening, our bridge cameras go dark. There is no advanced warning that the bridge is closing. This is done for security reasons.
We have a dedicated crew at the bridge with in-depth knowledge of the unique span. When they tried to close it so vehicles could drive across, the west half of the span wouldn’t move. Crews troubleshooted the issue for hours, but nothing worked.
They inspected gear boxes, power sources, motors and brakes. Everything looked fine, yet the west half wouldn’t budge. Our state bridge engineers, who were dispatched almost immediately following the malfunction, are based out of Olympia and were coming from work in Aberdeen. We knew the backups on US 101 might delay their arrival at the bridge, so we enlisted the help of Washington State Patrol to escort them through the backups.
Once state bridge engineers arrived at the bridge, they gave the okay to hook a tugboat up to the west half of the bridge. The tug gave it a pull. It worked. After that, the bridge was able to move on its own power. Out of an abundance of caution, we tested bridge functions one more time while the tugboat was on site. Again, the bridge behaved as it should. We opted to limit the marine openings to 300 feet until further inspections could be performed.
A commercial tugboat and WSDOT
maintenance skiff in the waters along the Hood Canal before maneuvers to fix
the malfunctioning west span of the bridge just before sundown Monday, May 5.
The next day, a bridge inspection team diver went down to look under the bridge. It allowed us to see if there were any obstructions beneath the icy waters of Hood Canal. The diver looked for evidence of debris stuck under the bridge or marine growth on the bridge bottom that could have caused the issue. They found nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing that would have caused the bridge to malfunction. Another test opening took place Tuesday evening with the tugboat nearby. The bridge operated under its own power with no issues. The mystery deepened even further. The bridge works like normal. Nothing to indicate why it wouldn’t budge Monday night.
A WSDOT bridge inspector in dive gear,
getting ready to inspect underwater portions of the floating Hood Canal Bridge
the day after it malfunctioned.
Working theory to potential cause
There is no apparent mechanical or electrical cause. That leaves us with a working theory. It’s possible that some kind of underwater debris affected the span and dislodged when the tugboat pulled on the draw span.
When something isn’t working right, human instinct is to “diagnose and fix”. We would really like to pinpoint an exact cause. At the same time we have not seen any damage to the bridge. Our Hood Canal Bridge crew and state bridge engineers are continuing to evaluate this issue.
Why we open the bridge for boats
Under maritime rules, boats get the right-of-way over vehicles when bridges block the path of marine traffic. We understand it seems counterintuitive since there are more vehicles than marine vessels. However, long established law requires the Hood Canal Bridge and others like it (Title 33, Part 177 Draw Bridge Operations) to give marine traffic the right-of-way over vehicular traffic.
We have worked with regulators to prevent some seasonal drawspan openings. From May 22 to Sept. 30 each year, private vessels (pleasure craft) are prohibited from requesting a drawspan opening from 3 to 6:15 p.m. daily during the peak afternoon commute. The rule doesn’t apply to commercial, U.S Navy or other Department of Defense vessels.
But not all boats are the same and not all need the bridge to open. In those cases, the regulations require mariners to navigate under the truss spans of the bridge whenever possible. Mariners should not request draw span passage if their vertical clearance is enough to use elevated areas of the bridge.
Truss heights (smallest vertical clearances at Mean High Water) clearances vary based on tides and wave activity.
Jefferson County (west) measures 31 feet
Kitsap County (east) measures 50 feet
Requesting an unneeded draw span opening is a reportable offense to the United States Coast Guard and needlessly jams up traffic across the bridge.
When people drive across the third longest floating bridge in the world, they probably don’t think about what it means to be on a floating bridge on corrosive salt water.
The salty, marine environment requires the structure to have ongoing maintenance and construction.
The bridge is also regularly under pressure from wind, waves, and fast-moving tides. This past winter we’ve had to close the bridge due to strong winds and extreme tidal swings in the 300-foot-deep Hood Canal.
Because the bridge is so unique, many of its key elements are custom made. When a part wears out it takes a lot of time to fabricate and install a replacement. There is no other bridge like it in the world. Later this summer, we hope to wrap up work on the bridge’s center lock system, which is all custom work.
Here’s
one of two systems that helps keep both halves of the bridge in place.
Extended bridge closures
We try to avoid extended closures of the bridge as much as possible.
We don’t control the weather though. Long closures for wind and strong tides happen.
In most cases, when there’s a mechanical problem our dedicated bridge crew can address it in less time than it takes for folks to travel the 3-hour detours by road along the Hood Canal or by boat using the Port Townsend Ferry.
Sometimes, extended closures are necessary to complete vital projects that keep the bridge operational. However, these are almost always at night with advanced notice to travelers.
When extended closures occur, we ask that travelers waiting on the shoulder of US 101, SR 104 or SR 3 for the bridge to open to not block driveways for property owners. This creates challenges for local communities.
How to check the Hood Canal Bridge status
We offer several ways for bridge users to stay up to date in real time. Add these handy links to your travel toolkit when you plan trips across the water:
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