Behind Revive I-5: The freeway project causing Seattle traffic

Revive I-5 is back in full force, bringing traffic headaches and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Adam Gerke was at Wasatch Traffic Management Center today and has a refresher on why this work is being done now. Infrastructure in Washington state is a big concern. We have a number of bridges that need help and work, and the Ship Canal Bridge is one of them. This hasn't seen significant work or improvements made to it since about the mid-80s or so. So we're looking at close to 40 years since it's had some real work done on it. So we've got a lot of potholes and a lot of surface material that needs to be repaired on northbound I-5 itself, as well as southbound I-5. They're also upgrading some of the drainage on the Ship Canal Bridge as well, which is a big deal, especially when it comes to the winter season. We get a lot of the leaves and the ponding and the pooling that happens along the Ship Canal Bridge. One of the big points we always watch is southbound I-5 coming into the city right at the Ship Canal Bridge. Hopefully, that will be mitigated during this process of Revive I-5 that's going on. So this work that hasn't been done for 40 years, it's got to get done now. It's time. We're overdue on a lot of it. And so best time to do it, obviously, summertime. And actually, any time is good, but summertime is better. So we're working on it now. And we've got the, like I say, the two right lanes closed off because we already finished the two left lanes. And at that point, once we get that wrapped up, we'll switch it all southbound for 2027.