BELLEVUE, Wash. — This story was initially published on MyNorthwest.com
That trip to graduation, or to visit Dad this weekend, could be delayed. I-405 north will be closed between Renton and Factoria.
The freeway will be closed from Sunset Boulevard in Renton to Coal Creek Parkway in Factoria. All the northbound on and off ramps along that corridor will be closed as well.
“We’re really doing a lot of work this weekend,” Washington Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Craig Smiley said. “It’s going to be a lot of paving, a lot of panel replacements. We’re continuing to install drainage structures, so a couple of drainage crossings and setting some noise wall panels as well.”
This is all part of the widening of I-405 and the expansion of the express toll lanes.
The designated detour route is Coal Creek Parkway. This isn’t the first time that road has been used for a detour route, and it won’t be the last. Past closures have created long backups.
“Anytime we have to take traffic off the freeway and divert it onto surface streets, obviously it doesn’t have the capacity to handle the volumes that the freeway typically would, so we are expecting some fairly significant backups,” Smiley said.
WSDOT will do what it can to help with that.
“We’ll have uniformed police officers along the detour group to help move traffic along,” Smiley said. “We monitor it throughout the weekend. If we see opportunities to where one particular intersection is getting worse than other, we try to redeploy resources as best we possibly can to keep stuff moving.”
The best advice is to avoid I-405 north. If you can’t, try to travel a little earlier or a little later.
“We know that there’s going to be a lot of grads and dads trying to get around to different functions this weekend,” Smiley said. “We just really want to get the word out that if you’re going to be headed northbound on 405, do plan some extra time.”
The expansion of I-405 and the express toll lanes from Bellevue to Renton was scheduled to wrap up by the end of the year. That has been pushed into 2026.
The northbound closure is set to start at 11:30 p.m. on Friday. The freeway should open by 4 a.m. on Monday.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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