Northwest Seattle traffic will be impacted from October 9 until the end of 2014 as the Nickerson-Emerson Overpass just south of the Ballard Bridge undergoes badly needed repairs of a damaged girder and worn road surface.  On Friday, October 10 and Saturday October 11 from 8 pm to 9 am, the girder and that section of the roadway will be demolished and the new girder placed, requiring closure of 15th Avenue W each of those two nights.  The noise of the demolition will be necessarily very loud that first night.  After the demolition, detours and further closures on and around the area will continue until the project is completed in December.

A complete description of the project, including maps of the detour routes for vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians,pictures of the damages to be repaired, links to Metro for bus route impacts, contacts for the project and much more is here: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/15thAVeWestOverpass.htm

Fremont can expect impacts as traffic shifts east from 15th W to Aurora and to the Fremont Bridge.  Some of that traffic may well use N 39th as the best route from Leary Way to Aurora.

SDOT’s Art Brochet, presenting the information to the Lake Union District Council at the regular LUDC meeting October 6, apologized for the compressed notification time, and explained that the contractor, who was able to move construction of the new girder to the head of the line for its manufacture, by speeding up the start will be able to get the project done more quickly, avoiding delays caused by Seattle’s least predictable weather in the first part of 2015.  He also explained that, by doing a full road closure, the project will be shortened by several weeks.