Relief at last? New Interstate 5 Puyallup River bridge has opened in Tacoma

TACOMA, Wash. — Construction crews opened the new bridge that carries southbound Interstate 5 over the Puyallup River on Friday morning, completing one of the final milestones in the reconstruction of the freeway through the Tacoma area.

“Drivers are going to immediately notice they are no longer sharing a bridge with the northbound traffic,” Tom Slimak, Fife project engineer for the state Department of Transportation, said in a news release. “We are excited to be opening lanes and providing some relief for commuters.”

Five of six new lanes across the 1,579-foot-long bridge are now available to drivers. Four of those are general purpose lanes. The fifth is an auxilliary lane that runs from the Port of Tacoma Road on-ramp to the exit for Portland Avenue, Bay Street, and northbound state Route 167.

“The new lane gives drivers more time and space to merge in and out of traffic. The original bridge, built in 1962, did not have an auxiliary lane between these two ramps,” according to the WSDOT news release. “The new lane gives drivers more time and space to merge in and out of traffic. The original bridge, built in 1962, did not have an auxiliary lane between these two ramps.”

The HOV lane over the new bridge won’t open until summer.

“Crews need this lane as a work zone to finish the new East L Street bridge over I-5,” WSDOT reported. “The contractor anticipates opening the HOV lanes on both northbound and southbound I-5 when construction on East L Street bridge is complete this summer.”

The old southbound bridge had four general purpose lanes with no room for an auxiliary lane or HOV lane.

The opening of the new bridge will necessitate changes on the bridge carrying northbound I-5 over the river, which has been sharing both directions of travel.

Crews need to remove temporary barriers and re-stripe lanes. There will be some overnight lane and ramp closures in the coming weeks to accommodate that work, WSDOT reported.

The new bridge and other work is part of the $1.4 billion I-5 and state Route 16 high occupancy vehicle (HOV) project, which has been ongoing for about 20 years.

The overall project is expect to wrap up this summer.

This story was originally published by The News Tribune.

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