CLOSURE ALERT: Work planned this weekend on eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(Image from SDOT traffic camera)

7:14 PM: After a reader inquiry, we asked SDOT this week for followup information on the deck scanning done last year on the Spokane Street Viaduct – the West Seattle Bridge continuation east of Highway 99. In the response late today, SDOT spokesperson Mariam Ali told WSB that the eastbound SSV – its older section – will close this weekend for work:

There is a planned closure of the eastbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct, 5/20-5/23, for expansion joint work. Our maintenance crews will take advantage of this limited-time closure to correct as many potholes as they can. We will take advantage of all other opportunities beyond this weekend closure to continue addressing any remaining pavement issues.

Ali’s response did not include the exact times for the closure, so we immediately askd that question on followup. As for the deck scanning done to assess the pavement condition, it showed “deterioration,” Ali said, so more work is ahead:

For the Spokane Street Viaduct, we are determining the best method of repair and developing designs to be able to pursue grant funding. Since this segment of the Spokane Street corridor is an essential route for freight and emergency vehicles, we will be taking careful consideration of how to manage traffic flow for this repair work.

The response offered no details of how extensive that repair would have to be, so we’ll be following up on that too.

9 PM UPDATE: We now have the hours for this weekend’s eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct closure – 9 pm Friday 5/20 until 5 am Monday.

CarDriver May 18, 2022 (7:41 pm)

WSB. I gather those of us that use that to get to I5 during low bridge authorized all access hours will have to use lower (street level) Spokane to get to I5?? Also, if we want low bridge access to north 99 or from S 99 to westbound low bridge will be impacted??

Adam May 18, 2022 (8:22 pm)

Would be sad and almost laughable at the same time if this were an inconspicuous sign of what will be our next closure. Fix the bridge, close the viaduct. I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin

CarDriver May 18, 2022 (8:48 pm)

Adam. You’ve just exposed SDOT’s master plan. Their new motto is Maintenance not necessary. What can we close next?

bolo May 18, 2022 (10:08 pm)

“…pursue grant funding”
Does this mean the required repairs are beyond the normal maintenance budget?

Neal May 18, 2022 (10:30 pm)

I’m glad the issues on this side of the big bridge have not fallen through the cracks, yet….Sorry, had to do it. WSB, thank you for all the updates.

Bronson May 19, 2022 (9:20 am)

So what I am reading in their second response is, “we’ve had two years to fix the problems with the Spokane Street corridor before the bridge re-opens, but since we incapable of doing more than one thing at a time, we will have to inflict further traffic pain on West Seattle-ites by waiting until the bridge opens and then restricting lanes on the viaduct.” Unbelievable the ineptitude in that agency.

cjboffoli May 19, 2022 (9:52 am)

It seems like “correcting” potholes is what they’ve been doing for many years now. And yet those corrections are frustratingly temporary. They need to find a permanent solution to this issue on this relatively new section of roadway.

MyThruppence May 19, 2022 (10:42 am)

If not mistaken, the eastbound Spokane viaduct is not new. They added an exit lane at 4th south, and resurfaced it, but the bridge deck and supports are probably more like 50 years old on the southern side of the median. The permanent solution will be a demo and rebuild similar to what was done for the west bound lanes. That sort of project will take huge sums of money, much planning, and even longer to actually do the work. I thought we all knew this when only one direction of the Spokane viaduct was replaced some years back now. Yes it sucks, but that is just the nature of large civil engineering projects.

snowskier May 19, 2022 (11:56 am)

I wondered if they would start fixing the potholes and do remediation work before the main bridge opens. Now it seems that won’t happen. If SDOT threw a BBQ they would grill the burgers then remember to place an order for the buns. Not much coordinated planning over there.

JustBaffled May 20, 2022 (10:47 am)

Actually, I think they would put the burgers on the grill, then leave to get the gas. Which via the detour would take about 45 minutes +/- round trip. But they’d forget to call ahead and would learn upon arrival at the store is out of propane. So off to another place. Once they get the grill fired up then it would be off again to get the buns. Then off for the condiments…Frankly, I’m still lost as to why the contractor wasn’t required to be working 24/7 on repairing the bridge once the funding had been secured. Someone really thought 1 shift 5 days a week was good enough for repairing a bridge serving approx 100,000+ vehs daily?? Leaves me JustBaffled.

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