529 Closure Updates

Originally scheduled for a four-month closure starting on May 28th, WSDOT contractor crews have updated their schedule to start closure on Sunday, June 2nd. Work will technically start at 10 p.m. Saturday, June 1, when both directions of SR 529 will close overnight so crews can reconfigure the southbound SR 529 Snohomish River Bridge to one lane in each direction and put the crossover in place.

At that time, the SR 529 on-ramp from Marine View Drive will be closed for the summer, and detours will be put in place.

Here are actions the City of Everett has taken so far in reaction to the traffic impacts from the SR 529 lane closures:

1. The week prior to the first closure, Everett closed Bridgeway/Skyline Drive to through traffic and installed seven Local Access Only signs in the middle of the street in north Everett to discourage cut-through traffic.
2. The City asked WSDOT to close the emergency vehicle bypass lane at the Broadway northbound offramp and onramp. It was to occur in the next phase of construction, and they closed it early at our request.
3. For the Mother’s Day weekend closure of I-5 to one lane, the City requested WSDOT reopen the second lane on northbound on SR 529. WSDOT was in full agreement and made it happen.
4. Broadway is running maximum coordination (traffic signal timing) plans in the afternoon to progress as much northbound traffic as possible.
5. City staff notified major local employers, the Port and community organizations of this closure prior to implementation.
6. When traffic started moving to the I-5 onramp at Everett Avenue, the City of Everett installed two NO U-TURN signs at Summit and Harrison and DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION signs at Maple and Walnut to reduce road rage behavior. Police assistance has been requested should the behavior continue. The City requested WSDOT review the ramp meter timing, and they made adjustments that have improved traffic flow onto the ramp.
7. Everett is installing “zipper merge,” or late merge signing on North Broadway, approaching the SR 529 northbound lane closure. The purpose of this signing is to reduce the daily afternoon queues on North Broadway that are creating access issues for the regional hospital, colleges and college transit center. Zipper merges are shown to improve traffic flow only slightly where there are low truck percentages, but the purpose of this implementation is to reduce the queue and provide better hospital access. WSDOT has an instructional video explaining the merge late and cooperate philosophy.

Even with these measures to address the local traffic impacts of the SR 529 lane closures, the reality is that roadway capacity is reduced by more than half. It is unavoidable that traffic patterns take time to stabilize as drivers use any path they can before realizing that cutting through is slower than the arterials and I-5. City of Everett staff will continue to look for opportunities to minimize the traffic impacts to Everett.

We encourage you to share this information with your neighbors. For information about your neighborhood group, including meeting times, visit https://www.everettwa.gov/neighborhoods