by Sara 

W. Emerson St. overpass to close for repairs October 8th through…wait for it…JANUARY

3 Comments

Are you ready? SDOT is starting a major project that will affect nearly all Magnolians.  Some residents received this letter in the mail:

Here is a complete description of the project from SDOT:

The W Emerson Street overpass connects Magnolia and the Fishermen’s Terminal with W Nickerson Street and north Queen Anne over 15th Avenue W. This overpass, on the south side of the Ballard Bridge, is the lowest structure on the 15th Avenue truck route. Since the overpass was built in 1959 the northern girder has suffered some damage from passing over-height loads.

SDOT has decided to combine the replacement of this girder, which will require demolishing the northern side of the overpass, with the renewal of the road surface on top of the road deck. This resurfacing (with a 1.5 inch thick layer of concrete) will protect the existing road structure from future corrosion as well as provide an even driving surface for the portion of the overpass that must be replaced.

The project will require both a long-term closure of the overpass (beginning October 9) and a short-term closure of 15th Avenue W underneath the overpass.

At 8 PM on the night of Saturday October 11 both north- and southbound traffic on 15th Ave W will be detoured to the west using W Emerson Place, Gilman Drive W, 20th Avenue W and W Dravus Street.

Between 8 PM and 9 AM the next morning, the contractor will break apart and remove the northern edge of the overpass and the damaged girder.

15th Avenue W will be reopened to traffic Sunday morning, once the demolition is complete and the protection placed for the road below has been removed. The next night, October 12, new bearing pads and a replacement girder will be installed, with 15th Avenue W reopened before traffic resumes Monday morning.

The repair work will also require the complete closure of the W Emerson Street overpass to all traffic (including pedestrians) beginning on October 9, 2014. This closure will last through the duration of the work, approximately 12 weeks. The detour for west-bound vehicular traffic on W Nickerson Street will be a double crossing of the Ballard Bridge (using Leary Way NW for the turnaround) to reach W Emerson Street.

The detour for east-bound vehicular traffic on W Emerson Street will be turning south on 15th Avenue W and using W Dravus Street as the turn-around for accessing the W Nickerson Street exit from northbound 15th Avenue W.

Pedestrian and bicycle traffic will need to use the Ship Canal Trail (which connect 13th Avenue W with 16th Avenue W) to cross 15th Avenue W north of W Dravus Street.

 

The total estimated project cost is $5M, which includes engineering, structural design, and the construction. Questions? Contact Art Brochet, Public Information Officer, art.brochet@seattle.gov, 206-615-0786

 

About the author 

Sara

  1. I have a lot of concerns about this detour. Traffic on Dravus has been getting considerably worse over the past 6 months and it’s often backed up from 15th Ave W to 20th Ave W. Is there a plan in place to remediate the impact of all of that traffic being routed on to Dravus?

    1. I agree. The city did very little in terms of infrastructure before putting those gigantic condos in. I’m quite surprised to just be learning about this today.

  2. The sentiment
    below is precisely one of the concerns I expressed in my email to the project
    manager yesterday. I have yet to receive a reply, so today I sent an additional
    email to Councilman Rasmussen (chair of the transportation committee). I want
    someone to justify the time frame for this project to me and show me the
    traffic impact study (I’m betting SDOT didn’t bother). EVERYONE in Magnolia
    needs to speak up in one voice to our council members. Given the incredibly
    short lead time notices we got for a project that is going to have such a huge
    impact on all Magnolia residents, I don’t anticipate anyone at SDOT could care
    less about us. I keep expecting to see a sign for a community meeting about
    this. Is everyone in Magnolia in a collective coma? Let’s get our act together
    and be heard!

    EVERYONE
    PLEASE IMMEDIATELY CONTACT: Art Brochet, project manager art.brochet@nullseattle.gov,
    206-615-0786

    And Seattle
    City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov 206-684-8808

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