Welcome to Skagit County

October 20, 2004

WSDOT CLOSES I-5 FOR FOUR NIGHTS IN MOUNT VERNON TO REMOVE SECOND STREET BRIDGE

MOUNT VERNON - Drivers, say goodbye to the Second Street Bridge in Mount Vernon. Next week the Washington State Department of Transportation will completely demolish the lowest clearance bridge over Interstate 5 between Canada and Mexico.

Crews will close southbound I-5 from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 and northbound I-5 from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 between College Way and Kincaid Street. They will only close one direction of I-5 at a time.

WSDOT is providing signed detour routes to help drivers easily navigate around the closure. Drivers should plan ahead for the closures, allow extra time for travel, and be prepared for delays.

Workers have completely demolished the Second Street from Memorial Highway west. This week crews are demolishing the bridge over Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. After next week the bridge will be completely gone. In November workers will begin building the framework for the new, taller and wider Second Street Bridge.

WSDOT permanently closed Second Street between Fulton Street and Montgomery Street on Oct. 11. Second Street will remain closed for up to one year during construction, until the new bridge is complete.
WSDOT is offering significant financial incentives to Mowat Construction, the contractor building the bridge, to get the work done as quickly as possible.

When this $14.1 million project is complete in fall 2005, the new Second Street Bridge will have three 12-foot wide vehicle lanes, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and a height clearance of 18 feet 7 inches.

For more detailed information about the project and a detour route map
please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5_2ndst_bridgerepl/.

Dustin Terpening
WSDOT Communications
Work: (360) 757-5997
Terpenid@wsdot.wa.gov

Contacts:
Dave Crisman, Project Engineer, (360) 428-1593 (Mount Vernon) Dustin Terpening, Public Information Officer (360) 757-5997 (Burlington)