Delays Expected This Spring And Summer Over Snoqualmie

As you begin your spring and summer driving over the Cascade passes It’s time to start planning ahead. A number of road improvement projects will cause delays for drivers on I-90 this spring and summer as the Washington State Department of Transportation improves sections of roadway from the summit of Snoqualmie Pass to Vantage.  WSDOT and contractor crews will start work in the next several weeks on a number of projects that will add lanes, build bridges, repair cracked sections of pavement, paint bridges, install fencing and plant vegetation for roadside restoration.  Several locations east of Snoqualmie Pass will have single-lane closures and rolling slowdowns, which will add to travel time.  “It’s going to be another busy summer of construction on I-90,” said Don Whitehouse, WSDOT regional administrator. “Drivers will need to add extra time to their east-west trips, especially if they’re trying to catch a flight or make a time-sensitive appointment.”

Next week, crews will resume work on a $551 million project that builds a wider, safer and more reliable stretch of I-90 from Hyak to Keechelus Dam. In June, crews on this five-mile-long project will resume blasting along the rock slopes east of Snoqualmie Pass. Drivers need to plan for hour-long closures, Mondays through Thursdays, starting an hour before sunset. In April, crews will start repainting the Vantage Bridge to help preserve the bridge’s structural integrity and protect the steel from corrosion.  In June, crews will be repaving deteriorating concrete near Easton from mileposts 67 to 70 and near Cle Elum from mileposts 84 to 87. Crews will also break ground on the next two miles of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project by building new lanes, bridges and the first wildlife overcrossing in the I-90 corridor.