With another round of Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project construction closures starting tonight – 10 pm-5 am for the next three nights, WESTBOUND ONLY (which means no bridge access from I-5 or Beacon Hill), and 3 more nights next week – you might be wondering, how’s the construction work going? We have the answer, and a few photos, from SDOT‘s Marybeth Turner:
As 2011 gets underway, work on the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project remains on schedule.
The contractor recently completed more than half of all the columns needed to support the widened portion of the deck that extends 42 feet further to the north. The crews have installed nearly three quarters of all support shafts that support the columns (there are a total of 154 in the design).
In addition, the contractor is nearly finished pouring the concrete deck from Fifth Avenue to Second Avenue. The intersection of Fourth Avenue and lower Spokane Street – long impacted by construction under the viaduct – should be restored to two lanes in each direction by March, though there may be occasional short-term lane restrictions after that.
Meanwhile, the big milestone for this year, the opening of the new First Avenue on-and off-ramp, is expected to be reached before the end of this year. We expect the total project to be completed in the spring of 2012.
That ramp will not be a replication of the one that was closed and demolished last year – its entrance is further north on 1st Avenue South, and it’s a two-way ramp. If you missed previous coverage of the project, we have an extensive archive dating back almost three years (find it here).
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