Northbound I-5 Is Closed Through Seattle All Weekend as Crews Clear the Ship Canal Bridge Work Zone
The full closure from I-90 to Northeast 45th Street runs until 5 a.m. Monday. When it lifts, the months of two-lane restrictions over the Ship Canal Bridge lift with it.
Every lane of northbound Interstate 5 through Seattle is closed this weekend, from Interstate 90 to Northeast 45th Street, as crews take down the work zone that has squeezed the Ship Canal Bridge down to two lanes for months.
The closure began at 11:59 p.m. Friday, with ramps starting to close around 9 p.m., and runs to 5 a.m. Monday, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. The express lanes are running northbound-only until the closure ends Monday morning.
The work is the payoff moment for the Revive I-5 Ship Canal Bridge preservation project: crews are removing the work zone itself, which means the two-lane northbound restriction that has defined the drive through the city comes off with it. Some overnight Revive I-5 work continues afterward, and southbound Ship Canal Bridge work is planned in 2027.
The one catch is the sky. Restriping needs dry pavement, and the closure is weather-dependent — if rain had moved in, the lane reductions would have stayed until a suitable weekend. This weekend's forecast is dry, which is the break the project needed.
Drivers have company in the region's other chokepoint: southbound Interstate 405 in Bothell is also closed this weekend, from State Route 527 to State Route 522, from 10 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday. For a Halloween weekend with a full slate of events, the practical advice from transportation officials is the usual one — plan for the detour, not the drive you are used to.