Interstate 5 (I-5) is an Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, serving as the region's primary north-south route. It travels 277 miles (446 km) across the state of Washington, running from the Oregon state border at Vancouver, through the Puget Sound region, and to the Canadian border at Blaine. Within the Seattle metropolitan area, the freeway connects the cities of Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett.
I-5 is the only interstate to traverse the whole state from north to south and is Washington's busiest highway, with an average of 274,000 vehicles traveling on it through Downtown Seattle on a typical day. The segment in Downtown Seattle is also among the widest freeways in the United States, at 13 lanes, and includes a set of express lanes that reverse direction depending on time of the day. I-5 also has three related auxiliary Interstates in the state, I-205, I-405, and I-705, as well as several designated business routes and state routes.
The freeway follows several historic railroads and wagon trails developed during American settlement of western Washington in the mid-to-late 19th century. The state legislature incorporated local roads into the Pacific Highway in 1913, connecting the state's southern and northern borders between Vancouver and Blaine. The Pacific Highway was built and paved over the next decade, and became the northernmost segment of the national U.S. Route 99 (US 99) in 1926. The federal government endorsed the creation of a national expressway system in the 1940s, including several bypasses on US 99 that would be built over the next few years and incorporated into a state-run toll superhighway in the Seattle area. The toll proposal was shelved in favor of a federally-funded freeway under the new Interstate Highway System, from which I-5 was created in 1957. Construction of I-5 was completed in 1969, and several segments of the highway have been widened or improved in the decades since.
Video Interstate 5 in Washington
Route description
Interstate 5 is the only Interstate to traverse Washington from north to south, serving as the primary highway for the western portion of the state. It is listed as part of the National Highway System, classifying important to the national economy, defense, and mobility, and the state's Highway of Statewide Significance program, recognizing its connection to major communities. I-5 runs through the most densely populated region of Washington state, with 4.6 million people living in the nine counties on the corridor, approximately 70 percent of the state's population. Several of the largest cities along the I-5 corridor are also connected by Cascades, a regional train service between Eugene, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia, operated by Amtrak and funded by the state governments of Oregon and Washington.
I-5 is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), who conduct an annual survey of traffic volume that is expressed in terms of average annual daily traffic (AADT), a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. The stretch of I-5 through Downtown Seattle is the busiest highway in Washington state, with a daily average of over 274,000 vehicles in the mainline and express lanes. The least-traveled segment of I-5 is located at SR 548 in Blaine, with a daily average of 6,600 vehicles. Traffic congestion I-5 through the Seattle metropolitan area is among the worst in the United States, with 78 percent of peak direction miles classified as "routinely congested" for 7-8 hours a day and an average annual delay of 55 hours for the Seattle-Everett corridor. The freeway has a maximum speed limit of 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) in rural areas and 60 mph (97 km/h) in urban and suburban areas, which includes a 100-mile (160 km) section between Tumwater and Marysville.
Southwestern Washington
I-5 enters Washington on the Interstate Bridge, a pair of vertical-lift bridges that span the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. The bridge is the only point on I-5 where vehicles have to stop for cross traffic, due to the lifts. On the north bank of the river, the freeway passes under a railroad viaduct carrying Amtrak's Empire Builder and intersects SR 14. The interchange with SR 14, located west of Pearson Field and the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, also includes ramps serving downtown Vancouver. I-5 continues north through suburban Vancouver and into Hazel Dell, passing the Clark College campus and intersecting SR 501 at Fourth Plain Boulevard and SR 500 at Burnt Bridge Creek. I-5 intersects I-205, the eastern freeway bypass of the Portland metropolitan area, in Salmon Creek near the Vancouver campus of Washington State University.
From Salmon Creek, I-5 continues northwesterly and intersects SR 502 at the Gee Creek rest area west of Battle Ground. Its next interchange, in eastern Ridgefield, forms the eastern terminus of SR 501. The freeway passes the Ilani Casino Resort on the Cowlitz reservation and crosses the Lewis River into Woodland, where it intersects SR 503. Northwest of Woodland, the median of I-5 is used by freight trains and Amtrak's Cascades and Coast Starlight passenger trains, which follow the freeway for its entire length. I-5 continues along the east bank of the Columbia River, passing through Kalama on the way towards Longview and Kelso. At the south end of Kelso, near the confluence of the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers, the freeway intersects SR 432, which connects to Longview and the Lewis and Clark Bridge via SR 433. I-5 continues north along the Coweeman River to the Three Rivers Mall, located east of downtown Kelso, where SR 4 terminates. Between Vancouver and Kelso, the highway is part of the Lewis and Clark Trail, a state scenic highway that continues west along SR 4 towards the Pacific Ocean.
The freeway continues north, following the Cowlitz River to Castle Rock, where it meets SR 411 and SR 504, the main highway to Mount St. Helens. North of Castle Rock, I-5 leaves the Cowlitz River and enters Lewis County, intersecting SR 506 west of Toledo and SR 505 east of Winlock. Near Napavine, I-5 becomes concurrent with US 12, which continues east across White Pass to Yakima. The two highways intersect SR 508 and follow the Newaukum River northwest to Chehalis and Centralia. I-5 and US 12 skirt the western edge of both cities, briefly following the course of the Chehalis River, and intersect SR 6 in Chehalis and SR 507 in Centralia. US 12 leaves the concurrency at Grand Mound, heading west towards Aberdeen while I-5 continues north into Thurston County.
South Sound region
North of Grand Mound, I-5 passes Millersylvania State Park, which is connected via two interchanges with SR 121, which forms a loop between two of the exits. The freeway travels through the suburb of Tumwater, passing the Olympia Regional Airport and several state office parks before reaching the terminus of US 101, a major highway that encircles the Olympic Peninsula, on the south side of Capitol Lake. After the interchange, I-5 enters Olympia and turns eastward after passing the Washington State Capitol campus and downtown Olympia. The freeway runs through Lacey and the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge towards DuPont on the east side of the Nisqually River in Pierce County.
Immediately east of DuPont, I-5 travels through Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a major military installation that encompasses land on both sides of the freeway and its parallel railroad. Near American Lake, an interchange with Thorne Lane marks the proposed western terminus of SR 704, a new highway that would travel between the boundaries of Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base (the two components of Joint Base Lewis-McChord) to Spanaway. Continuing past the bases, I-5 passes through Lakewood and intersects SR 512 before it reaches Tacoma.
In Tacoma, the freeway passes the Tacoma Mall, turns east, and splits into collector-distributor lanes that run through central Tacoma and serve two interchanges: the terminus of SR 16, which continues northwest over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to the Kitsap Peninsula; and I-705 and SR 7, which serve downtown Tacoma, the Tacoma Dome, Tacoma Dome Station, and the Pacific Avenue corridor. East of the Tacoma Dome area, I-5 intersects SR 167 and crosses over the Puyallup River and a railroad carrying Sounder commuter trains. The freeway reaches Fife on the Puyallup Indian Reservation and intersects SR 99, a small section of former US 99, at 54th Avenue East. After crossing Hylebos Creek, I-5 turns north and ascends from the Puyallup River Valley, entering King County and the city of Federal Way while parallel to SR 99.
After passing under SR 161 at Kitts Corner near the Wild Waves Theme Park, I-5 intersects SR 18, a freeway that connects to Auburn and Maple Valley. I-5 continues north past the former Weyerhauser headquarters campus to central Federal Way, where the freeway's high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) have a direct off-ramp to the Federal Way Transit Center and The Commons at Federal Way shopping mall. The freeway travels north into western Kent, intersecting SR 516 near Highline College. North of Angle Lake, I-5 tracks eastward between the cities of SeaTac and Tukwila, passing east of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. At the Westfield Southcenter shopping mall in Tukwila, I-5 intersects SR 518, the primary means of access to the airport and Burien, and I-405, the eastern freeway bypass of Seattle that travels through Renton and the Eastside. The interchange includes several left-hand ramps, necessitating the separation of the thru HOV lanes from the mainline. For a short distance, the light rail tracks of Central Link, which followed SR 518 from Tukwila International Boulevard station, join I-5 and run on its west side until the next interchange at SR 599, a short freeway that connects to SR 99. From the SR 599 interchange, I-5 makes a gradual turn to the northwest while crossing over the Duwamish River and a mainline railroad, following the latter into the city of Seattle after an interchange with SR 900.
Seattle and Shoreline
After entering Seattle, I-5 passes under the Central Link tracks at Boeing Access Road and runs northwesterly between Boeing Field and Georgetown to the west along the railroad and Beacon Hill to the east. Mid-way along Beacon Hill near Jefferson Park, the freeway turns due north and intersects the east end of the Spokane Street Viaduct, part of the West Seattle Bridge, which has additional ramps to the SoDo area and the VA Puget Sound Medical Center. I-5 continues north between SoDo and northern Beacon Hill, crossing over the western portal of the Beacon Hill light rail tunnel near Central Link's railyard and operating base. At the north end of SoDo and Beacon Hill, I-5 intersects I-90, the state's major east-west freeway, forming a large interchange with ramps to Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, the city's two sports stadiums.
North of the interchange, I-5 travels on an elevated viaduct over the International District and splits into collector-distributor lanes that serve exits to Downtown Seattle. The thirteen-lane freeway, among the widest in the United States, runs in the full block between 6th and 7th avenues between downtown to the west and First Hill to the east, home to Harborview Medical Center and Yesler Terrace. It passes to the east of Seattle's tallest building, the Columbia Center, and the city's Central Library before adding a set of reversible express lanes in the median near Madison Street. I-5 turns northeasterly and passes under Freeway Park, a landscaped city park built over sections of the freeway near Seneca Street, and the Washington State Convention Center between Union and Pike streets.
I-5 continues north out of downtown Seattle, passing 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 m) under a retaining wall along Melrose Avenue at the edge of Capitol Hill. To the west is the South Lake Union and Cascade neighborhoods, accessed via ramps to Stewart Street and Mercer Street. The freeway travels along the north end of Capitol Hill through the Eastlake neighborhood on the east side of Lake Union, passing over the I-5 Colonnade mountain bike park. At Roanoke Park, I-5 intersects the western terminus of SR 520, a major freeway that crosses Lake Washington on the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge to Bellevue and Redmond. The heavily trafficked Mercer Street and SR 520 exits use ramps that are on opposite sides of the freeway, causing vehicles to weave across several lanes that contributes to traffic congestion. I-5 continues onto the Ship Canal Bridge towards the University District, crossing 160 feet (49 m) over a section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Eastlake Avenue parallel to the University Bridge. The bridge also includes a lower deck for the express lanes, with a ramp connecting to Northeast 42nd Street in the University District.
I-5 runs north along 5th Avenue through the University District, a few blocks west of the University of Washington campus, and intersects Northeast 45th and 50th streets using a weaved pair of diamond interchanges. In the Roosevelt-Green Lake area, I-5 intersects Ravenna Boulevard and SR 522, a major highway that travels along the north side of Lake Washington. Further north, the freeway reaches Northgate and the express lanes merge back with the mainline, forming a set of HOV lanes. I-5 passes to the west of Northgate Mall and the Northgate light rail station along 1st Avenue before moving back east to 5th Avenue near Haller Lake. At Jackson Park, freeway intersects SR 523, which forms the northern city limit of Seattle. I-5 then travels through Shoreline, passing the King County Metro north bus base and through several suburban neighborhoods before reaching Snohomish County.
Snohomish County
At the county line near Lake Ballinger, I-5 also intersects SR 104, a highway that connects to Lake Forest Park, Edmonds, and the Kitsap Peninsula via the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. The freeway continues through western Mountlake Terrace, passing the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center and its median bus station near 236th Street Southwest. Upon entering Lynnwood, I-5 turns northeast and follows the Interurban Trail, passing the Lynnwood Transit Center, which is connected to the HOV lanes via a set of direct ramps. Near the Lynnwood Convention Center, the freeway intersects SR 524 on 196th Street Southwest and its spur route on 44th Avenue West, and travels along the south side of the Alderwood Mall. To the east of the mall, I-5 intersects I-405 and SR 525.
I-5 crosses into northern Lynnwood and intersects 164th Street Southwest near Martha Lake and Mill Creek, where a partial HOV ramp connects to the Ash Way Park and Ride. The freeway continues north into Everett and intersects SR 96 southeast of Paine Field. It then passes Silver Lake, the South Everett park and ride, located in the freeway's median at 112th Street Northeast, and a southbound-only rest area near the Everett Mall. Northeast of the mall, I-5 comes to a major interchange with several highways: SR 99, which travels southwest as Everett Mall Way; SR 526, which travels west to the Boeing Everett Factory and Mukilteo; SR 527, which travels south through Mill Creek; and Broadway, which continues north into downtown Everett.
From the mall interchange, I-5 descends towards the Lowell area on the east side of a hill with several suburban neighborhoods. Near the Everett Memorial Stadium and Lowell Park, the freeway intersects 41st Street in a single-point urban interchange, with additional ramps from the HOV and mainline lanes towards downtown Everett on Broadway. I-5 then curves northeasterly around downtown Everett, following the general course of the Snohomish River, and intersects the southern terminus of SR 529 at a half-diamond interchange with Pacific Avenue and Maple Street near the Everett train station and transit center. One block north of the interchange, the freeway intersects US 2, a major highway that travels across Stevens Pass to eastern Washington. To the north of the US 2 ramps is a second half-diamond interchange with SR 529 Spur on Everett Avenue, at which point the HOV lanes terminate and leave the freeway at six total lanes. I-5 continues north through a narrow trench in the Riverside neighborhood and passes Summit Park, a city park built using leftover land and excavated dirt from the freeway's construction.
The freeway crosses the Snohomish River and descends into the river's estuary, which has several sloughs that I-5 crosses. It also passes the Everett Water Pollution Control Facility and several wastewater treatment ponds, which produces strong odors that are noted by motorists. On the north side of Steamboat Slough, I-5 turns northwesterly and intersects SR 529 before crossing over the BNSF Railway and Ebey Slough into Marysville. Within Marysville, the freeway runs due north along the boundary between the city and the Tulalip Indian Reservation and intersects several arterial streets: SR 528 west of downtown Marysville, 88th Street near Quil Ceda Village, and 116th Street near the Tulalip Resort Casino and Seattle Premium Outlets shopping mall.
North of the city and reservation, I-5 crosses over the railroad and enters Arlington's Smokey Point neighborhood, where it intersects SR 531 just west of Arlington Municipal Airport. A pair of rest areas are situated north of the interchange and are the busiest in the state, receiving 2.1 million visitors per year. The area around the freeway transforms from suburban to rural, with rolling hills and forested areas, as it approaches Island Crossing and an interchange with SR 530 west of downtown Arlington. North of Island Crossing, I-5 crosses the Stillaguamish River and passes the Stillaguamish Indian Reservation and the Angel of the Winds Casino Resort. The freeway continues northwest through rural Snohomish County and intersects SR 532 east of Stanwood before crossing into Skagit County.
Skagit and Whatcom counties
From the Snohomish County line, the freeway turns north and descends into the Skagit Valley, following the Skagit River that runs to its west. At Conway, I-5 intersects SR 534 and is joined by the BNSF railroad while continuing north towards Mount Vernon. The freeway narrows to four lanes within Mount Vernon and forms the boundary between the uphill suburban neighborhoods and downtown along the river. In downtown Mount Vernon, it intersects SR 536 in an interchange adjacent to the city's train station. At its next interchange, I-5 crosses the railroad and encounters SR 538, which connects the freeway to the Skagit Valley College and a minor retail corridor. The freeway then crosses the Skagit River into Burlington on a bridge that partially collapsed on May 23, 2013, and was subsequently renamed the Trooper Sean M. O'Connell Jr. Memorial Bridge after a state trooper who died while directing detour traffic during its rebuilding.
On the north side of the river, I-5 skirts the western edge of Burlington, passing car dealerships and retail stores, including the Cascade Mall and an outlet mall. To the west of downtown Burlington, the freeway intersects SR 20, a major state highway, in a partial cloverleaf interchange that includes several businesses inside the western loop. SR 20 continues west towards Anacortes and the Olympic Peninsula, and east through North Cascades National Park to the Okanogan Country as the North Cascades Highway. In northern Burlington, I-5 intersects the southern end of SR 11, which provides access to the western Chuckanut Mountains. I-5 crosses the railroad and the Samish River before reaching the Skagit Casino Resort and Skagit Speedway near Bow and Alger, located in the middle of the heavily forested Chuckanut foothills. The freeway then travels up into the Chuckanut Mountains and crosses into Whatcom County south of Lake Samish.
I-5 travels along the eastern shore of Lake Samish before turning west to follow Chuckanut Creek through a narrow valley formed by Chuckanut and Lookout mountains in Lake Samish State Park. At Lake Padden, it turns north and enters the city of Bellingham, intersecting SR 11 east of Fairhaven and the Alaska Marine Highway terminal. The freeway travels along the east side of Sehome Hill and downtown, passing the Western Washington University campus and several intersections with downtown streets. Northeast of downtown Bellingham, I-5 intersects SR 542 (the Mount Baker Highway) and turns west to meet SR 539 at the Bellis Fair Mall. The freeway heads northwest and leaves Bellingham after passing Bellingham International Airport, entering the predominately rural part of the Fraser Lowland region. I-5 continues northwest along the railroad, crossing the Nooksack River near downtown Ferndale and intersecting SR 548 north of the city, providing access to the Cherry Point Refinery and Birch Bay.
In Blaine, the northernmost city on I-5, SR 543 splits off to serve an alternate border crossing for trucks and freight. I-5 travels along the northeast edge of downtown Blaine and intersects SR 548 before it reaches the Canadian border at the Peace Arch, where the highway terminates. The monument was built in 1921 and its surrounding park is open to the public without needing to report to customs officers. The park is connected to its administrative buildings and parking lots by a set of crosswalks across the northbound and southbound lanes of Interstate 5. The Peace Arch-Douglas crossing is the westernmost on the mainland border and third-busiest, with an average of 3,500 to 4,800 vehicles crossing per day. The highway continues north as Highway 99 towards Vancouver, located 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Blaine.
Maps Interstate 5 in Washington
Seattle express lanes
I-5 has 7.14 miles (11.49 km) of reversible express lanes within Seattle, which carry traffic in the peak direction on weekdays. The express lanes run in the median of the freeway between Downtown Seattle and Northgate, carrying 54,000 of the 270,000 vehicles on the Ship Canal Bridge on an average weekday, as measured in 2010. The express lanes split from I-5 near James Street, with ramps to the mainline near the northbound Seneca Street exit; the southernmost downtown exit is at 5th Avenue and Cherry and Columbia streets under the Seattle Municipal Tower and adjacent to Seattle City Hall.
The express lanes run through downtown and the Cascade neighborhood on the lower deck of I-5's southbound lanes, with ramps to the Pike Street at 9th Avenue, Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel's Convention Place station, and Stewart and Howell streets at Eastlake Avenue. After the ramps from Mercer Street, the four-abreast express lanes emerge onto the median of I-5, following it past Capitol Hill and Eastlake to the Ship Canal Bridge. The express lanes cross the Ship Canal on the lower deck of the bridge, which includes an exit to Northeast 42nd Street in the University District. A southbound-only, HOV-only onramp from Ravenna Boulevard and an additional ramp to SR 522 connect the express lanes to North Seattle, leaving two express lanes and an HOV lane. The express lanes end southwest of the Northgate Mall, with a ramp to Northeast 103rd Street and the two remaining lanes merging onto I-5. The downtown entrances at Cherry, Columbia, and Pike streets are designated for HOV use only to encourage carpooling without impacting buses using the ramps.
The express lanes typically carry southbound traffic from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and northbound traffic from 11:15 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, with an overnight closure from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. On most weekends, the lanes are open to southbound traffic from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and northbound traffic from 1:45 a.m. to 11 p.m., with an overnight closure to reduce neighborhood noise. The weekend times are sometimes adjusted for special events, including weekend sporting events, or construction on the mainline lanes in Seattle. The express lanes are controlled by a series of movable gates and electronic signs controlled by a remote operations center that relies on CCTV cameras and an inspection and sweep for abandoned vehicles a ground crew, who also set up safety nets during the 15-minute switch-over. Prior to a $6.6 million project to automate the gates and signage in 2012, the switch-over took 50 minutes in total.
Express lane exit list
The entire highway is in Seattle, King County.
History
Early state and national highways
The Pacific Highway was formed in 1913 by the state government as the north-south trunk in its first highway system, following the general route of modern-day I-5. The trunk route, one of three suggested by good roads activists for several years and studied by the state legislature in 1909, strung together several wagon trails dating back as early as the 1840s, when settlers arrived in the Puget Sound region from the Willamette Valley via the Cowlitz Trail. It was part of a longer route along the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico, which was conceived by the Pacific Highway Association of North America in 1910 and would ultimately be completed in 1927 with the opening of several bridges between Everett and Marysville.
The State Highway Board selected a route that would connect the main cities of Western Washington, which were Vancouver, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, and Bellingham. In 1923, by which time the entire road had been improved, the highway became State Road 1 (Primary State Highway 1 after 1937), but retained its name. By that time, most of the route of Interstate 5 became US 99, which was established in 1926.
Later in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 which started the construction of Interstate Highways. In 1968, US 99 was removed from the system entirely, a year before the last portion of Interstate 5 opened on November 14, 1969. Legally, the Washington section of I-5 is defined at Washington Revised Code § 47.17.020. Several projects are currently ongoing and have been completed in the recent years on I-5.
Seattle
South of the Ship Canal Bridge Interstate 5 separates the Eastlake and Cascade neighborhoods from the Capitol Hill neighborhood, and separates Downtown Seattle from the Capitol Hill and First Hill neighborhoods. Its construction necessitated the demolition of significantly developed areas and cut off walking commutes to downtown for many First Hill residents, who "were by far the most vociferous critics of the proposed route," but far from the only ones. Architect Paul Thiry said in the early 1970s, "It was with the Freeway, cutting through the very heart of the city, that Seattle began taking one of its wrong turns and started to lose its identity as a city." He proposed a lid extending from Columbia Street north to Olive Way, roughly the entire length of downtown.
Among the buildings torn down in the Downtown-First Hill area to build the freeway was the Hotel Kalmar at Sixth Avenue and James Street (built 1881 as the Western Hotel, demolished 1962), the last of Seattle's pioneer-era hotels, predating the Great Seattle Fire, and Seattle's then-oldest public building, the Seventh Avenue Fire Hall (built 1890, demolished c. 1962).
In the years since the freeway's construction, Seattle has made several efforts to stitch back together pedestrian routes disrupted by the freeway, achieving part of Thiry's proposed "lid". The most visible of these efforts are Freeway Park (opened 1976), built as a lid over the freeway and connecting Downtown to First Hill, and the Washington State Convention and Trade Center (built 1982-1988) adjacent to Freeway Park, also bridging the freeway. The 7.5-acre (30,000 m2) I-5 Colonnade mountain bike park (opened 2007) uses the freeway as a roof and reconnects Eastlake to Capitol Hill.
Freeway construction
The 19.7 miles (31.7 km) section between Seattle and Everett was opened on February 3, 1965 by Miss Sno-King Rose Clare Menalo of Meadowdale High School.
The portion of I-5 from US 2 / SR 529 Spur in Everett to SR 528 in Marysville opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 14, 1969 by Devvie Herivel, Miss Everett, and Katherine Smith, Miss Marysville. This was the last portion of Interstate 5 from California to Canada that was opened, free of traffic lights and draw bridges. The stretch of I-5 from Marysville to Mount Vernon was already opened as a 4-lane divided highway without overpasses.
Recent history
During the past two decades, parts of the interstate have been periodically inundated by floodwaters as a result of area storms. Floods in November 1990, February 1996, December 2007, and January 2009 each caused temporary closures of I-5 between the Kelso-Longview and Chehalis-Centralia areas. The causes of this problem, as noted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, are attributable to "decades of clear-cut logging, modifications of waterways, and destruction of natural flood control features within the Chehalis River basin."
The December 3, 2007, flood closed a 20-mile (32 km) section of the interstate for four days. The Washington State Department of Transportation recommended a 440-mile (710 km) detour between Portland and Seattle, by way of I-90, I-82, and I-84, adding 270 miles (430 km) to the 170-mile (270 km) trip.
The January 7, 2009 flood closed a 20-mile (32 km) section of the interstate for several days. The Washington State Department of Transportation was unable to offer a detour since all three main east/west passes were also closed due to severe mudslide and avalanche danger.
On May 23, 2013, the northbound span of the I-5 Skagit River bridge between Mt. Vernon and Burlington collapsed.
On December 18, 2017, an Amtrak train derailed onto the southbound lanes of I-5, causing it to be blocked for hours.
Future
On Interstate 5, the only planned improvement to the express lanes is a direct connection to the future SR 520 HOV lanes, to be constructed as part of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge replacement project.
Exit list
References
External links
- Media related to Category:Interstate 5 in Washington (state) at Wikimedia Commons
- Interstate 5 at Highways of Washington State
- Interstate 5 at AARoads
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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