The westbound Interstate 90 ramp to northbound Interstate 5 reopened late Monday after a shutdown for “urgent expansion joint repairs,” according to WSDOT.
The westbound Interstate 90 ramp to northbound Interstate 5 reopened late Monday after a shutdown for “urgent expansion joint repairs,” according to WSDOT.
Maintenance crews shut down the westbound Interstate 90 ramp to northbound Interstate 5 on Monday afternoon for “urgent expansion joint repairs,” according to an alert from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
After a closure that lasted through the evening commute, the ramp reopened late Monday night, the state agency posted on X.
At 4:30 p.m., according to WSDOT, traffic was backed up more than 4 miles on westbound I-90, as commuters and travelers worked their way around the closed ramp. There was no official detour route.
Aisha Dayal, a WSDOT spokesperson, said the expansion joint became loose but it’s hard to know what caused it. Dayal said the work needed to be done quickly to prevent damage to vehicles, and that there were no reports of damaged cars before the ramp was closed.
Expansion joints are built into bridges to allow them to flex and move, adding resilience to the structure to withstand temperature changes and heavy traffic loads.
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