I-5 to close weekend nights for 116th bridge demolition

MARYSVILLE – The old bridge over I-5 at 116th Street will be demolished the next two weekends, closing half of the freeway, which could create some traffic backups overnight.

MARYSVILLE – The old bridge over I-5 at 116th Street will be demolished the next two weekends, closing half of the freeway, which could create some traffic backups overnight.

The new bridge is completed, and motorists will be diverted this week to that one, and the old one shut down.

On Friday and Saturday nights, April 8-9, old bridge demolition will start around midnight. To prepare for that, one lane of I-5 northbound will close at 8:30 p.m. and another at 11:30. The entire highway will be closed then until 7:30 a.m. Traffic will be diverted to the offramps and onramps, forcing the 116th bridge to close to traffic. All I-5 northbound lanes won’t open until 10 a.m.

A similar schedule is set for the following weekend, April 15-16, except on the southbound lanes of I-5.

On that Friday night, a single lane will shut down at 7, two lanes close at 10:30 and the mainline I-5 and 116th Street close at 11:30. Bridge demolition of the west side will start at midnight. Two lanes will reopen at 7, and all southbound lanes open by 9 a.m.

The following night’s schedule is the same except the two lanes will open at 8, and all lanes reopen by 10 a.m.

The Tulalip Tribes’ contractor, Granite Construction, will be doing the work. Signs, barricades and flaggers will direct traffic. A free shuttle will help pedestrians cross the 116th bridge during the closures, a tribal news release says.