Three lanes of southbound I-5 will close from 9 p.m. Tuesday until 4 a.m. Wednesday so state bridge workers can install new steel plates over a Sodo-area expansion joint.
General traffic will be allowed into the high-occupancy lane, so a total two lanes of general traffic will be open in the area, said Harmony Weinberg, spokeswoman at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).
The Sixth/Forest exit will be closed overnight, but the West Seattle Bridge/Columbian Way South exit will remain open.
Drivers should be alert for sudden lines of stopped cars, as they navigate the limited-vision curves, slope and merge points under the state convention center.
At least one steel expansion-joint cover near the Sixth Avenue South/Forest Street exit could be heard clanging last week — a sign that the metal might pop loose at any moment. That creates either a safety hazard or requires emergency repairs that can snarl daytime traffic, as occurred Nov. 4.
An expansion joint is a gap between bridge decks that provides room for the road to expand or contract during temperature changes.
WSDOT has been gradually replacing steel-covered I-5 joints that date to 1965, by reinforcing the concrete edges with epoxy, with silicone filler between decks. That kind of total retrofit was done northbound in Sodo eight years ago.
