For a short time, the decommissioned 70th Avenue East bridge over Interstate 5 in Fife will be a “bridge to nowhere.”
Beginning the night of Monday, July 1, contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation’s SR 167 Completion Project will start demolishing a 75-foot section of the old bridge. This portion of the bridge is over a slope on the west side of I-5 but does not span any lanes of the interstate.
The demolition work is expected to take up to two nights. During this work two out of five lanes of southbound I-5 will be closed for approximately a half-mile approaching the Fife curve and the bridge at milepost 138.
- Monday, July 1 to the morning of Wednesday, July 3 – The two right lanes of southbound I-5 will close nightly. The first lane closes at 7:30 p.m. followed by the second lane at 8:30 p.m. Lanes begin opening daily at 5:45 a.m. with both lanes open by 6 a.m.
After this section of the bridge is demolished, crews will begin building a haul road through the area. The haul road will be used to move material in and out of the work zone for the SR 167 Completion Project.
Full bridge demolition
In late summer/early fall, crews will tear down the rest of the 70th Avenue bridge. Dates for the demolition have not been set. Demolishing the remainder of the bridge will require closing I-5 overnight in both directions over two weekends. The bridge must be removed to make room for a new bridge that will carry the future SR 167 tolled expressway over I-5.
The 70th Avenue Bridge was replaced in 2021 by the Wapato Way East bridge.
SR 167 Completion Project information
The SR 167 Completion Project builds 6 miles of new tolled highway between Puyallup and the Port of Tacoma. The new highway will be completed in stages. The portion currently under construction between I-5 and the Port of Tacoma is scheduled to open in 2026. The third stage is scheduled to begin construction in 2025 and construction work on the last stage will begin in 2026. The entire project is planned for completion by 2029. WSDOT’s Flickr website contains photographs of the construction progress.
Puget Sound Gateway Program overview
The SR 167 Completion Project is part of WSDOT’s Puget Sound Gateway Program, which also includes the SR 509 Completion Project in south King County. Combined, the two completion projects finish critical missing links in Washington’s highway and freight network.
What an exciting set of pictures showing the progress of I-5 and HWY 167 constructions.
i was really impressed on the sections of each photographs and the written demonstrations from each photo.
Excellent in the enviroment clean up of each of the two creeks Wapoto and Hylabos for the growth of Fish to the rivers and Puget Sound.