Installing ‘smarter highways’ signs to cause I-5 closures
July 23, 2010 by yago · Leave a Comment
Interstate 5 in South Seattle will be closed nightly for the next three weekends while the state Department of Transportation (DOT) installs new signs as part of its “smarter highways” project to help reduce traffic congestion.
The signs will eventually go up on Interstate 5, Interstate 90 and Highway 520, and the first signs on I-5 will be activated sometime this summer.
“This will be a big change for drivers,” said Patty Michaud, with the DOT.
UPDATE, 7:17 a.m., April 13: WSDOT says lanes will be closed from 11:30 p.m., Friday to 6 a.m., Saturday. Lanes will also close at 11:30 p.m., Saturday and remain closed until 8 a.m., Sunday.
The I-5 signs, expected to cost $20 million, are part of the mitigation for the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project, said Patty Rubstello, DOT’s systems-development engineer. She said 6,000 more trips each day are expected on I-5 while the viaduct is being replaced.
The I-90 and 520 signs will cost $40 million, and those funds came from a federal grant, Rubstello said.
The new, brightly colored signs will display information on speed limits, merge signs, lane closures and accidents. Some of the signs are the size of a U-Haul truck.
Washington is one of the first states to implement smarter-highways technology, although it’s popular in some European countries.
The signs have to go through rigorous testing before they can be turned on.
“We want to make sure for the driver the message up there is the right message,” said Rubstello. “We don’t want to accidentally give out the wrong information.”
The signs are set up so they can be changed instantly. Already the state has been working on putting in the sensors that will “talk” to the signs.
In all, the state plans to erect 300 signs over 40 miles, from the Boeing Access Road to I-90 and on the I-90 and 520 bridges.
The electronic signs will automatically alert drivers to change lanes when an accident blocks traffic or to adjust their speeds before they reach slower-moving traffic. The DOT hopes they will help reduce rear-end collisions and allow for early chances to find alternative routes.
The Highway 520 signs, between I-5 and 130th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue, will be activated later this year; the signs on I-90 between I-5 and 150th Avenue Southeast in Bellevue will go up early next spring.
