RAMP REPAIR UPDATE: Reopening by Tuesday morning, WSDOT says

(WSB photo, Wednesday)

2:52 PM: Six days after that hole forced the Washington State Department of Transportation to close its ramp connecting the eastbound West Seattle Bridge to northbound State Highway 99, here’s the latest:

As reported over the weekend, crews poured concrete on Saturday, and now it’s curing. WSDOT spokesperson James Poling explained why the schedule remains the same as announced last week (which would reopen the ramp by this Saturday): “The concrete curing process requires our offsite materials lab breaking test concrete cylinders from the pour at certain time benchmarks (24 hours after pour, 48 hours after pour, etc.). Once a test cylinder reaches a strength to safely reopen traffic, the bridge ramp will reopen. The timetable remains the same at this time as our crews await a test cylinder to pass that strength benchmark.”

Meantime, since there was initially much public confusion over who’s accountable for the ramp, and some commenters said they had filed ramp-pothole reports with the city, we asked the Seattle Department of Transportation if they’d received such reports about the state-owned ramp and what happened to them. Spokesperson Ethan Bergerson replied, “When the public reports a pothole which is outside the city limits or not on SDOT’s right-of-way, it will be routed to the correct transportation agency. Over the past few months, we notified WSDOT of several public reports of potholes in this location.” We’ll follow up on that, as WSDOT had said previously they weren’t aware of the hole – at least at the magnitude that forced last Tuesday’s closure.

4:28 PM UPDATE: Just got another update – the ramp concrete “has cured more quickly” than expected, and the ramp will be open by 5 am tomorrow (Tuesday).

16 Replies to "RAMP REPAIR UPDATE: Reopening by Tuesday morning, WSDOT says"

  • Chemist May 8, 2023 (4:14 pm)

    Passing along a list of pothole locations to wsdot every three weeks with none of the details or urgency would satisfy the statement from sdot.

  • WSB May 8, 2023 (4:42 pm)

    Just in – they’ll reopen the ramp by 5 am tomorrow (noted above too).

    • sam-c May 8, 2023 (4:47 pm)

      Wonderful news!! Thank you for sharing that great update!!

  • Kt May 8, 2023 (4:53 pm)

    Yeah, quick action!

  • Admiral May 8, 2023 (5:25 pm)

    Imagine how much quicker the West Seattle Bridge would have been repaired if it was under WSDOT jurisdiction instead of SDOT?

    • Sarge May 8, 2023 (6:17 pm)

      You’re joking right?

    • My two cents May 9, 2023 (12:44 am)

      Patching a hole in a roadway might be relatively more “simple” than the complexities involved with the bridge repairs and the components that comprise the entire span. But what do I know as I am not an engineer.You?

      • Jay May 9, 2023 (1:24 pm)

        The “Seattle Process” caused severe delays to the West Seattle Bridge. It took a very long time to even decide on potential solutions, an optimal solution (rapid replace) was passed over due to cost, and the RFP process proceeded at a leisurely pace. It was a year before a contractor had been selected and 18 months before work started. That’s not a normal timeline for an emergency infrastructure project. State or federal ownership would have dramatically sped up the project. This pothole job was done with federal money already earmarked for repairs on the bridge. If it was an SDOT project there’s no way the work would have gotten underway so quickly.

  • LJT May 8, 2023 (6:52 pm)

    Has anyone noticed 3-4 giant potholes and pieces of the road on the bridge heading to the I5 going east? I was driving that way on Sunday and was trying dodge all of them – they look like they’d blow some tires out soon. 

  • DC May 8, 2023 (7:50 pm)

    WSB – do you know if there is a way to report potholes directly to WSDOT? Thanks, as always, for the great reporting! 

    • Lola May 9, 2023 (7:22 am)

      DC,wsdot.wa.gov/about/contacts/send-us-your-feedback.

  • R May 8, 2023 (11:16 pm)

    Oh HELL yes. Sooner than expected. Can’t be upset about that. 

  • WestSeattleBadTakes May 9, 2023 (7:25 am)

    A quick resolution, wonderful work.

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