Southbound 529 Into Everett Closing For Entire Weekend

Important news if you’re a fisherman heading to the Everett Coho Derby this weekend and you’re coming from the north. The Washington State Department of Transportation is closing southbound 529 between Marysville and Everett beginning at 8:00pm tonight (Friday) and it will remain closed until 5:00am Monday morning. Northbound is not affected. Here are the details from WSDOT.

Southbound SR 529 will be closed between Interstate 5 and the bridge. The I-5 exit to southbound SR 529 will also be closed. Drivers who need to reach Smith Island can enter SR 529 at State Street in Marysville or follow a detour route on southbound I-5 to northbound SR 529.

During the closure, contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will replace heavy pieces of machinery that operate the southbound lift span. The machinery is showing signs of wear and fatigue, including cracking, after 60 years of hoisting and lowering two counterweights weighing a total of 250 tons. The bridge averages about 600 openings each year.

The drawspan machinery is housed in two towers 80 feet above the southbound lanes. Crews will use a large crane to remove the old machinery in the northern-most tower and lift the new pieces into place.

A second closure of southbound SR 529 is also planned for the weekend of Sept. 28-29. Northbound SR 529 is not affected by this work.

 

Video of the bridge opening and closing is available on the WSDOT YouTube channel. Photos of the machinery are also available on Flickr.

 

Work on this $3.2 million project will be complete in October.