The northbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge will close at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23. The ramp will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26. This round-the-clock closure is the first of four weekend-long closures on the South Spokane Street/Interstate 5 interchange.

During the four weekend closures in August and September, contractor crews working for WSDOT will replace six 50-year-old expansion joints on the northbound I-5 ramps to upper and lower South Spokane Street. They also will use jets of pressurized water to blast off the rutted roadway surface of the ramps before repaving them with new concrete.

This work is part of the I-5 Seattle Bridge Repair Project, which is scheduled to finish up in fall 2013.

Closure and detour information

• Thursday, Aug. 22 through morning of Friday, Aug. 23 – The northbound I-5 ramp to upper South Spokane Street/West Seattle Bridge will close from 10 p.m. Thursday through 5 a.m. Friday to prepare the roadway, and mobilize equipment for the full weekend closure.
• Friday, Aug. 23 through morning of Monday, Aug. 26 – The northbound I-5 ramp to upper South Spokane Street/West Seattle Bridge will close from 7 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday.
• Drivers will be detoured to the lower South Spokane Street/Sixth Avenue South off-ramp to First Avenue South to the West Seattle Bridge on-ramp. View the detour map.

There are two sold out Mariners games and a Sounders game this weekend. Drivers can stay on time by adding an extra ten or fifteen minutes to their trip and checking the Seattle traffic page for backups. The What’s Happening Now page,Twitter feed and mobile app also are reliable traffic-busting tools.