If you’re planning to take State Route 99 south this weekend, you might want to change your plans. The Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed from tonight, April 6 through Sunday, April 9. The closure will start 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.
From the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT):
Crews will close the State Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct this weekend to reinforce a section of the structure located above the path of the future SR 99 tunnel. Both directions of SR 99 from the West Seattle Bridge through the Battery Street Tunnel will close from 11 p.m. Friday, April 6 to 5 a.m. Monday, April 9. Drivers should expect increased congestion in and near downtown Seattle during the closure and plan accordingly.
Crews building the SR 99 tunnel will spend this weekend reinforcing both decks of a two-block section of the viaduct between South Washington and Columbia streets, in Pioneer Square. There will be one additional weekend closure of the viaduct in mid-May to complete this work, which includes filling cracks and wrapping previously damaged sections of the structure in protective reinforcing fiber. Protecting this section of the viaduct is important because crews will drive the tunnel boring machine beneath it in late 2013.
